It’s been a couple of months but finally another Adelaide offline, this one back at Soho Restaurant (73 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide), and this time there were 16 attending in the undercover courtyard out the back. My thanks again go to Bradley & Peta and the rest of staff for looking after us so well, and of course everyone from the forum for sharing their great company and interesting wines.
1996 Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Elizabeth Salmon, Brut Rosé: Pale salmon pink with a good mousse and fine, steady bead. Lovely complex nose of freshly baked bread, strawberry, toast and oyster/mineral; the palate’s just as stunning, a creamy entry with candied fruit mid-palate, and a refreshing, dry finish. What a way to start, and almost nothing else topped it.
2000 Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage: A little grassy/weedy and stinky compared to the Rose – the creamy texture was very nice with some tangy citrus fruits, but it was well and truly in the shadow of that wonderful Billecart-Salmon.
2006 Ata Rangi Chardonnay: Bright straw. Fresh/spicy nose with peachy fruit; the sweet vanilla/nutty oak’s more obvious on the palate, finishing long. What I’d describe as a Meursault or riper Chablis style of Chardonnay, very peachy and well worked with lots of winemaker inputs, and drinking very nicely now.
2005 Kumeu River Matés Vineyard Chardonnay: Bright straw. In contrast to the Ata Rangi, the oak’s toasty and more obvious on the nose, but less obvious on the palate; it’s also riper with the fruit more into the citrus/orange peel spectrum, with that toasty/cinnamon oak kicking in on the finish. Overall I prefer the Ata Rangi, but I also thought both Chardonnays matched the starter of Smoked Trout Mousse, Horseradish and Prawn Mayonnaise very well.
1996 Petersons Hunter Valley Semillon: Bright straw yellow, an astonishingly young colour. Bright citrus/lemon butter and mineral, with truckloads of acid and excellent length; still remarkably youthful and caught a little in between phases at the moment, but still mighty impressive.
2007 Pipers Brook Vineyard Gewurztraminer: Pale green (almost colourless). A little simple and one dimensional for my liking, with grassy/lychees and mineral, but fairly light weight and lacking the crunchy acid/savoury characters I’ve come to crave in my Gewurztraminer.
2004 Fattoria Zerbina Pietramora Sangiovese: Ripe, sweet and minty nose, clean but a little simple; the palate’s the same, quite sweet, light to medium weight and relatively simple with confectionery and minty/herbal characters.
2005 Viottolo Vitale (by Redheads Studio) McLaren Vale Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon: Sweeter, earthier and denser than the previous wine, with cinnamon sticks, black cherries and creamy vanillin oak; the palate shows its McLaren Vale roots with lashings of milk chocolate and ripe/earthy plum/cherry fruit. This looked very smart coming after the previous Sangiovese, and was one of the favourites of the night.
2001 Domaine des Lambrays Grand Cru, Clos des Lambrays: Delightful, fragrant nose of Italian parsley, bright strawberry/cherry and mineral and later on some spearmint; it’s just as delicate and bright in the mouth, with attractive mineral/herbal characters and excellent structure and length. This didn’t look lost among the other wines in this flight and matched the second course of Roasted Sweet corn and Flagoulet Bean En Crepe the best.
1991 Gaja Barbera Vino da Tavola, Piedmont: I found the nose of this smoky and metallic, with a little of the bilge/stinky characters others mentioned; the palate has the same characters and was rather short and flat, and there was a bit of debate whether it had a fault or this was the result of the style using very, very old oak – I thought it was the latter, but whatever the reason it wasn’t attractive.
1998 Seppelt St. Peters Shiraz: Still a dark to very inky blood red, with legs running down the glass. Remarkably complex and impeccably balanced right from the outset, with earthy chocolate, blackberry, truffle and petroleum, gradually developing some lovely aniseed characters with breathing. The medium to full weight palate’s just as perfectly balanced, with a long, silky structure and amazingly young fruit – this is a great Shiraz to have as a benchmark, and be as strong for another 10 years, probably many more – WOTN for me in a close one.
2003 Tim Adams Aberfeldy Shiraz: Dark red, not as dark as the St. Peters five years its senior – the nose is just as attractive though, with dark chocolate, earth/truffle, tomato, inky violets and sweet berry fruit and some five spice. The palate’s medium weight but still choc full of fruit and is complex, with excellent structure and length. Drinking beautifully now, it’s an excellent wine and a brilliant result for the vintage, although it’s not a long keeper.
Irvine The Baroness: Very dark red. Very herbal nose with cassis, spice and lashings of creamy vanillin oak; the palate doesn’t measure up to the rest of this flight, it’s barely medium weight at best, very stalky and very short.
2004 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz: Dark to almost inky red. The Cabernet component really stands out in this bunch, with a herbal/menthol blackcurrant nose, and a very tannic/earthy palate – a very smart wine that’s a pretty good indicator of how much Wrattonbully is improving every year.
2003 Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon: Very good, clean nose of mint, cassis, pencil notes and some capsicum; the palate’s much more savoury and risque, with nutty/cashew and metallic characters, quite spicy and bordering feral.
2005 Marchesi de Frescobaldi Mormoreto Toscana IGT: I must have been talking or enjoyed this too much, as I didn’t take down any notes!
1999 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon: Bright, medium red, noticeably lighter than the 1992 Mitchell. Attractive nose with minty/capsicum, cassis and earth, but lacking the thunderous coal, chalk and spice characters of the best vintages; the palate’s surprisingly only medium-weight and approachable, with good blackcurrant fruit and an earthy/mineraly finish. It’s decent drinking now, but like the 2003 lacks the concentration and breathtaking power of the previous vintages.
1992 Mitchell Sevenhill Cabernet Sauvignon (magnum): When I opened this at home I thought immediately it was more advanced than a 750ml bottle I tried last year; dark to inky crimson/brick. This is a pretty good example of a wine skating around the edges without falling in, a little bretty and oaky at times but never going over the top. Lifted capsicum, pencil notes, cassis, truffle then some barnyard, changing to sweet black liquorice; the palate’s full-bodied and powerful with very ripe fruit just containing the lashings of vanilla oak, finishing long and very inky. One for the hedonists – four days later the dregs left in the bottle amounted to a glass that was still sound and full of capsicum, pencil notes and cassis.
2005 Adelina Clare Valley Shiraz: Textbook Clare (or so I was told): very inky with medium-weight, sweet plummy fruit and a clean finish. The deserts were out by this stage so I didn’t spend as much time with this as I should.
1983 Chateau Coutet 1er Cru Classe, Sauternes: Medium, honeyed gold, still remarkably youthful for 25 years old. The initial burst of sweetness was replaced by a rather strange, salty/oyster & fishy/sweaty socks character, but by dessert time it was back to being sweet again. Massive botrytis on the palate entry with lots of mineral and honeyed/drambuie characters, very long but not particularly sweet, finishing dry. A strange wine/bottle; while the colour hinted it was still young the palate seemed rather flat, yet there was no obvious sign of any fault either.
2004 Noon Solaire: I saw the bottle, but somehow I missed this one.
1990 Chateau Reynella Vintage Port: Classic, refined vintage port with surprisingly elegant brandy and liquorice characters, and a clean, mineraly finish. I really liked this while some thought this wasn’t a good bottle, but maybe the following VP didn’t exactly help either.
1998 Hardy’s McLaren Vale Vintage Port: This had all the good traits of the Reynella turned up a huge notch, with a freshness and fleshiness that was irresistible. Earthy plum/prunes, mud chocolate, black liquorice, and glowing brandy spirit, a huge, plush mouthfeel and an excellent lingering finish – about as good as it gets for a mere 10 year old, and it live just about forever too.
Dutschke The Tawny – 22 Year old Tawny Port, Bottled May 2003 (375ml): When I wasn’t happy with the 1983 Coutet and with the other ports not really matching the dessert, I decided to open this up too – a heavy, rancio powerhouse of liquid walnuts, toffee and caramel that (short of a 100 year old) is about as rich as it gets. As I’ve said before, a little goes a very, very long way.
Cheers
Ian
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.
Bloody Good.
