The last week has just flown and when I posted this post, last week thread was still being discussed and was only two post below this one. Its great to see these threads being discussed over the whole week.
My highlight of the week was the 1995 Hardy Tintara Shiraz. At nine years of age this wine is still a baby with fresh acid and loads of ripe savoury fruit that will go for years. The style of this wine is a great example of McLaren Vale Shiraz, its a pity Hardy's have changed the style into the very "elegant" spectrum over the past few vintages. A 94 Classic Clare FRS was also very enjoyable on one those those stinking hot days we had mid week. That wine will also live for many years.
Seresin Marlborough Sauv/Blanc: typical marlborough with heaps and heaps of tropical fruit. Passionfruit, guava and pineapple really dominated this wine. Had with people who only druck Sauv/Blanc so first glass was great, but by the second bottle it was really getting boring.
Devils Lair Margaret River Cab 01: opened it last night a had a quick glass. At first there was a bit of bottle stink which blew away but when it did, was really closed. The palate was also not giving anything away. Dumbfounded by this one and looking forward to coming back to it tonight.
cheers
anthony
Good wine ruins the purse; bad wine ruins the stomach
Spanish saying
N - Vibrant raspberry, floral, some sappy green characters which was not off putting and in fact seem to give the nose a lift. I also found some savory meaty notes.
P - Mid-weighted wine with the raspberry fruit predominant at the front.....in fact it reminded me more of raspberry tartlet biscuits rather than straight fruit. There was a little of that green sappy character as well which was a little off putting in the mouth but it was no big deal. The finish was clean with plenty of noticable acid and the tannins were fine and quite light.
I have only tried the 97 BP before this so I have little of my own experience to base comparisons on but enough has been written about this wine for me to know that it is a lighter Rockford. But I found it to be a good wine, it was interesting enough, went well with the pasta we had, was obviously well made and there certainly wasn't a poblem finishing the bottle off I feel content that there are 5 more to crack over the next couple of years.
It's great to see that Rockford produces good wine even in ordinary years.......it gives you confidence to buy year after year
1998 Pirie Sparkling Light straw in colour. Powdery and flinty on nose and palate with apple spectrum fruit. Does not have the yeasty complex characters of Champagne.
1995 Josmeyer Brand Grand Cru Riesling Light yellow. Old world Riesling nose – peach, slate initially and added some florals with breathing. Slate, peach, lime and a touch of petroleum starting to show on the palate. Acid backbone is now starting to soften and the wine is drinking well.
1999 Clos Floridene Distinctive green tinges in the pale yellow colour. Austere grassy/herbaceous nose, also showing some toastiness and French oak. Savoury palate, typical white Bordeaux, with fruit flavours of peach, quince and grapefruit. Complex with a long, dry finish.
1996 Bannockburn Pinot Noir Mature brick red, touch of browning. Complex nose showing forest floor, smoke, rhubarb, beetroot and plum. Repeated on the palate with an overlay of oak. Similar in character to a Bass Phillip. I realy liked this wine for its enjoyable complexity.
1999 Quartz Reef Pinot Noir Medium red. Cherry/plum fruit to smell. Black cherry and plum to taste with a nice long softly oaky finish. Starting to drink well.
1999 Summerfield Reserve Shiraz Deep red. Medium bodied with some elegance. Pronounced Eucalypt character overlaid on fruit and everyone picked this as Pyreness when presented masked.
2001 Henschke JohannÂ’s Garden GSM Bright red. Sweet fruit on the nose, with some chalkiness and confectionery overtones. Sweet fruit to taste with some tannins on the finish. Over-priced for what it is.
1994 Petaluma Coonawarra Deep medium red. Attractive cedary maturing cassis fruit to smell. Bordeaux-like to taste with some gravelly tannins, not unlike a mature Margaret River Cabernet. Impressive - didn't quite appreciate they can become like this with age.
1996 Tatachilla Foundation Shiraz Mid red. Coconutty American oak and blackberry fruit – typical McLarenvale.
Glad to see that you are not drinking much despite your 'reported' condition.
Thanks for the note on the Pataluma Coonawarra, for ages I have been meaning to open a 94 to see how its coming along, now I will make sure it gets to the front of the tasting bench.
The only "rider" I would put on the Petaluma is that it came from a warmer cellar than yours or mine would be, so it may be somewhat more developed than yours. However that said, the style is never so aggressive as to demand cellaring, even when relatively young.
Opened very nicely but I donÂ’t think this wine will have the legs or complexity of the 1999 or the 2000. An enjoyable experience @ $20
Rosemount Mountain Blue Mudgee Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 1996
The cork on this wine was quite loose and seepage had occurred right up the cork.
The fruit has gone. Put the cork back and return to supplier for a refund. $40
Andrew Harris Shiraz 2000
This wine was opened to show the type of barnyardy smells and tastes that seem to come with some Mudgee wines. This is a $13 quaffer and it was great. End of story.
Lindemans Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cabernet 1999
This wine could have been left for a few years yet. Great colour and an initial closed nose. Opened up nicely during the night to show nice mint, chocolate and tobacco overtones. I would like to try this in a few more years. $gift
Lake Breeze Bernoota 2000
This wine has been a great drinking wine (Shiraz/Cabernet) since it first appeared in the bottle shops. HasnÂ’t changed a lot in the last 12 months but has lost nothing at all and is still drinking well. $17
Knappstein Cabernet Merlot 1998 Magnum - Oxidised – Down the sink.
Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz 1993 - Drinking beautifully currently.
Best yet out of four.....incredible balance, everything there, one of the wines of the year. Good value from London.
1997 Seven Acre:
Good, much what you'd expect. Better than the '96 or '97 IMHO. Starting to knit well, needs an hour in the decanter.
1976 Rabaud Promis:
Very good, well balanced, excellent notes of honey, melon, citrus, almond and marzipan. Wonderful mouthfeel.
1976 Sigalas Raboud:
Still youngish tasting, despite being full on the Seville side. Less honeysuckle than citrus, no melon..............but none of that citric acid taste than can negatively impact, like burnt marmalade. No, this was heavy citrus, but remained well balanced. Has another 10 years in it.
Finished all my 1995 and get ready for the 1996..arriving next week. Can't wait.
A very fine example of the French bubbly. Very fine bubbles that just resolve in the mouth with a creamy feel. Tropical fruit,Citrus on the palate with excellent balance of acidity. Excellent.
2000 Pennyweight Pinot Noir: No smell to suggest it being corked however, it was short, uninteresting, 'stewy' and a possible licorice taste as well. Not as I remember at the CD. One of those impulse purchases when you're 'on tour'.
1999 Water Wheel Cabernet Sauvignon: Better than the first bottle tasted about 12 months ago. Nice rich mouthfeel with a decent length. An average example of this variety from the Bendigo region.
1997 Mount Helen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot: Drunk over 3 nights. The first night this showed very well for a wine I received as a filler in a dozen. Not exciting, but very acceptable nonetheless. The third night (under vacuvin) this wine lost a lot from the nose. Enjoyable.
Started off with a bottle of 1991 Leo Buring Leonay, Eden Valley
Bright lemon yellow in colour. On the nose, plenty of lemon/lime zest together with kaffir lime leaf; surprisingly little kerosene or diesel fuel. The palate shows some development - it's put some weight on since release - medium bodied+. There's lots of honeyed lemons and limes overlaying overlaying fine acidity. I have to admit to being a wee bit disappointed by this wine, though I would also say that it is only mid-development. There's plenty of fruit and acidity to carry the wine for at least another 5 years+.
NV Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla
Light, tangy, salty (seaweed), slightly yeasty and very refreshing. It worked a treat with anchovies and olives.
NV Hidalgo Napoleon Amontillado Seco
Medium weight, fully developed. Lots of complex characters - leather, toasted walnuts, smoked hickory and touches of caramel - very dry. Unlike some Amontillados, this wine goes down ever so easily and was a perfect match for chorizo picante and jamon serrano.
NV Hidalgo Napoleon Oloroso Seco
Like a big brother of the Amontillado - similar in many ways, but richer, with more pronounced oxidative character and a hint of sweetness on the finish. It went well with the beef shin that had been slowly braised in the wine.
1998 Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva
Pretty simple easy to drink Rioja - lots of redcurrants and cranberries with a lick of vanilla oak.
2000 Domaine la Soumade, Cuvee Confiance, Cotes du Rhone Villages Rasteau
One of the better producers in the southern Rhone, lauded by the likes of Parker, Jefford et al. Nice magenta in colour. The nose is dominated by young fruits, woodsmoke and lots of dark spices - still a young wine. On the palate, full bodied, with stacks of savoury fruits - both red and black - raspberry, blackberry - as well as dark spices (5 spice, black pepper). What impressed me the most about this wine was its elegance and how easily it carried its 14.5% alcohol.
'90 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz. Drinking well, a good Show Sparkling, but not as great as the '91 or '87.
'01 Burge Filsell Barossa Shiraz. A good wine, with evident good, classic Barossa fruit, ripe tannins, but too much vanillan oak for my palate.
"02 Matua "Gimblett Road" Sauv Blanc. Somewhat flat and one dimensional with a little stalkiness. Not my style of Sauv/Blanc.
'90 Penfolds Bin 389. Still drinking well, classic aged Cab/Sauv on the nose, the Shiraz only evident now as the mouthfiller and on the finish. What value!
'98 Penfolds Reserve Bin 98A Chardonnay. CLassic big Aussie Chardonnay with a well developed rich nose and citrus, still slighlty youthfull palate with good length & persisitency. Still room for development yet, and way, way better value that the Yattarna. Great wine!
'03 Stumpy Gully Pinot Grigio This Mornington Peninsula winery has produced, in my mind at least, the best of this variety I've had. Such an easy wine to drink, yet still interesting. A wonderfull summer drink that goes well with alot of different food.
1990 Leo Buring Leonay Riesling - lovely developed golden colour. Surprising primary aromas of lime and lemon still in existence. Much like Phil's comments re the '91. Palate was also of lime and straw, with great length. Still lots of life in this one.
1991 Seppelts Show Sparkling Shiraz - nose of earth and leather, nicely balanced palate with great mouthfeel.
1996 Peter Lehmann Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz - sweeter wine than the Seppelts, with aromas of liquorice being prevalent. Initial farmyard nose blew off quickly. Berry and spice on the palate, and as with the Seppelts, a nice mouthfeel.
1988 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz – earth, vanilla and mulberries on the nose, with leathery palate. If anything, a little mid-palate was missing, but there was a great finish. Drink up over the next year or so.
1990 Penley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - the oak was not as pronounced as the last bottle I had, though vanilla was still evident. Mint and berry abounded on the medium to full body palate, with great length / finish.
1990 Lindemans St George Cabernet Sauvignon – mint, eucalyptus and tobacco on the nose, with a sweet blackcurrant palate. We only gave this bottle a short airing, and I suspect it would have produced even more with time.
1991 Orlando St Hugo – slightly lighter wine than the St George and the Penley. Typical notes of cedar, tobacco and mint. If anything, had a slightly hot finish.
1991 Henschke Mt Edelstone Shiraz – chocolate, vanilla, mulberry and mint on the nose, lovely balanced palate with oak and fruit seamlessly interwoven. Probably had the greatest length and finish of all the wines above.
A couple of weeks in Condrieu and Hermitage. About 50 different Cote Roties and Viogniers I had a very good look at- a few Parker 98-100 pointers aswell.
Single vineyard Guigal & Chaouptier highlights- Ampuis and the like.
They do a good job with shiraz, the French, my conclusion!
A BBQ and a pizza evening saw a few bottles opened - I will write these up in a bit more detail later:
1998 Edwards and Chaffey Shiraz Deep purple color, nice plum and black fruits.
2002 Mitolo the Savitar Shiraz Plush, dense and rich - Yum
Penfolds 1986 Bin 389 Developed earth, cedar and berry flavours. . At its peak.
2001 Dutschke Oscar Semmler Elegant, rich and full bodied.
1994 Fox Creek Shiraz (Reserve) Powerful and full bodied - Outstanding.
1994 Greenock Creek Cab Sav Wow - Simply great - Chockers with fruit, wonderful complexity - A powerhouse of flavour still.
2002 Te-aro Shiraz Nice spicy Barossa shiraz - Good value for money at $20
2002 Te-aro Semillon A great summer wine. Nice and dry, lovely citrus flavours. Will develop further.
Cheers -Mark Wickman
WICKMAN'S FINE WINE AUCTIONS FREE membership, LOWEST auction commissions in Australia. Now accepting wine for our next auction. http://www.wickman.net.au
1984 Mouton Rothschild - faring much better than would have been expected from the vintage. Goes to show that the better chateaus can deliver even in off vintages, but I wouldn't spend money to buy this unless collecting the label! A pleasantly developed cabernet with less palate depth than I would like.
1972 Cheval Blanc - from one of the worst Bordeaux vintages ever - my birth year...provided by a friend and actually drinking well above expectations. Excellent roast beef wine that still tasted young relative to its age.
1972 Penfolds Grange - a great bottle, not quite as truffled as the last I had, but still with loads of life. Typical Barossa "crushed ants", with coffee, chocolatey earth, and developed secondary fruit delivered in a balanced package that lasted well in the glass. Delicious example of a world-class aged red.
1993 Henschke Cyril - knockout nose of deep inky cassis. Literally stunning aromas that followed through on the palate. Extremely intense flavours around a core of some of the deepest cassis fruit I have tasted in a cabernet. Vies with Wynns John Riddoch 1982 as my single favorite Australian cabernet wine. Ageless.
1996 Henschke Hill of Grace - I could take a glass of this and just sit nursing it whilst being taken back to particular memories associated with the kaleidoscope of aromas it has. Final settles down (after hours) to a spicy camphor/eucalypt note. Palate follows through, delivering a wonderfully refined Eden Valley complexity in a seamless package. Not a blockbuster in terms of palate weight, but certainly an intense ride.
1986 Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Combottes 1er Cru - lovely mealy flavours in a balanced package with good acid and fine length. Bottle in excellent condition - not overdeveloped or oxidized - and a superb example of how well-made chardonnay can age into a lovely complex drink. Loved by all at the table.
1995 Dom Perignon - bottle in superb condition. Delicious as always.
1995 Bollinger Grand Annee - bottle just a touch off - amazing how delicate champagne can be - a robustly flavoured champagne in a different style to the Dom.
1986 - Alain Robert mesnils - delicious. slightly off bottle, but not enough to distract from the wonderful complexity of this wine. Not a common wine, but one worth seeking out.
2002 Grosset Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc (Adelaide Hills) Pale straw green – very tart and ungenerous, although certainly refreshing on a hot day. Pure lime and grassy aromas & flavours, sharp acid, but actually carries quite a depth of flavour – pungent almost, enough to push it into the medium-bodied category. The S-B clearly predominates in this wine at present.
1998 McWilliams Mount Pleasant Phillip Shiraz (Hunter) The best Phillip I’ve tasted for ages. A murky crimson red, it has aromas of earth, spice, and some dead vegetal quality. It’s no wonder they started making ‘Burgundy’ in the Hunter all those years ago. Only a medium-weighted wine, but has a lovely even balance all over the palate and a respectable-length finish.
2000 George Dubouf ‘Chiroubles’ (Beaujolais) Light red. The nose is quite restrained, with a little clean mild cherry predominating. There was perhaps a whiff of bubble-gum flavour, but maybe that’s just me smelling what I think I’m supposed to smell. The wine is clean, light, and quite tart. Carbonic maceration? Don’t know, but very little I suspect. Clean sharp finish is quite persistent, although the wine is not more than light-bodied, by anyone’s standard. Interesting, and I’ll try and be more analytical about the remaining bottle I have.
1999 Tyrrells Vat 63 Semillon Chardonnay (Hunter) Yellow in colour, with a flash of green remaining. It’s a lovely blend of tropical fruits on the palate – peaches and melon, with some bitter grapefruit as well. Underneath is the gentlest of oak just imparting a nutmeg-like spiciness to the wine. Enough acid to keep it fresh, but no more. Will live for a few more years no doubt, but very lovely now. The unfashionable blend paradoxically makes it the sort of wine that everyone would like, chiefly because no one flavour or structural characteristic dominates the wine. A very balanced presentation indeed.
Sean wrote:00 Tahbilk Shiraz - At first just some dark berry and aniseed and light tannins. By the second glass it had opened up and had definite red berry flavours and some of the typical earthy character. It is still young and like a lot of 01 & 02 shiraz around $14 or $15. But I think like other Tahbilk shiraz in the last ten yrs or so, it will come into its own after time in the cellar. If you've had a 92 or 94 recently you'll know what I mean.
It's good to hear a recent crit of Tahbilk Shiraz. I used to like them a lot but went off them for a while. Time to look into it, hey?
Just spent a week in Canberra, so I took the chance to try a couple of Canberra wines.
Pankhurst Pinot Noir 01 - Basically pleasant, unspectacular. Recommended and good value for under $20.
Brindabella Hills Shiraz 01 - Dark fruits and the aroma of violets; lovely drinking now with a graceful future. Excellent and wonderful value (at a little over $20).
Lark Hill Chardonnay 01 - tasted at the bar at Rydges. Excellent.
Lark Hill Chardonnay 02 - Good, not quite as good as the 01. Might just be that I prefer my chardonnays older. Highly recommended.
And a few bottles from here and there during the week.
Kilikanoon Mort's Block Riesling 03 - Nice wine, but I'll leave the rest down for a while.
Highbank Coonawarra 97 - Lovely wine, approaching its peak. Excellent.
Kilikanoon Blocks Road Cab Sav 01 - A flower plucked too soon. I might get another couple and try again in five years.
Rockbare Shiraz 02 - Good stuff - not dreadfully subtle (but a few years might fix that) but good straightforward drinking. Recommended+, probably 5 stars for value on special for $13-14.
Penley Phoenix Cab Sav 02 - Only recommended. Didn't taste any better than some cheaper 02s I've been drinking. The 01 showed much more class.
Chapel Hill Cab Sav 98 - Recommended. Can't remember any more.
Casella Yendah Vale Durif 00 - Very good food wine; not as enormous as a Rutherglen durif. Recommended+.
A grumble: the restaurant at Rydges had Graveyard on the wine list for $30-something per bottle, but brought something else to the table when I ordered it. Grrr.
Kieran wrote: A grumble: the restaurant at Rydges had Graveyard on the wine list for $30-something per bottle, but brought something else to the table when I ordered it. Grrr.
Kieran
You see a lot of threads about "bait and switch", but mostly I think it's just a mixture of ignorance and incompetance that causes these things. A year ago we dined at a restaurant in Double Bay that listed a Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr (Aus or Spät - I can't remember) for $50. Of course when the wine arrived at the table it was the modest blended 'Dr L' wine. No doubt they had the WS at some stage - but hey, ist says 'Loosen' on the bottle - what more do you want!
Its great to see these threads being discussed over the whole week.
