Memorial Dinner

[Grant Dodd]

"Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated". The great memorial dinner was severely spoiled last night when the dead one(me) turned up,rising like a phoenix out of the ashes. Still,its nice to have something named after you,isn't it!!

Very nice night.Good food(Regatta's in North Terrace,Adelaide),good service(extremely attractive waitperson of the female variety) and good company. Probably the finest gathering of wine palates Adelaide has ever seen. Well, maybe a gathering then. Oh,well,four wine nerds eating and drinking and enjoying themselves.

Gavin bought along some samples,and we had a couple of extras.Short notes/impressions as follows.

Tyrrels Belford Reserve Semillon 97

Good juice,needs more time. Signs of honey and toast coming to the fore,musk stick,pear and lime on the nose,a lot of life on the palate still. Plenty of acid,good length. Sit on it for a while yet.

clos Clare Shiraz 2001

Sweet dark cherry,blackberry fruit,liquorice,plenty of alcohol but didn't finish too hot. Full bodied,didn't really fill out the middle palate but a pleasant wine at the price($25). Perhaps $20 would be a more realistic price.

Petaluma Shiraz 2000

Touch of Viognier,I think 3%. Good complexity on the nose,nice floral notes. Only medium bodied. Didn't really deliver on the palate what it promised on the nose.Reflected the average vintage and possibly young vines too,it was thought. Not very good value at around $40

Haan Shiraz "Prestige" 2000

Completely different to the Petaluma,yet still with 8% Viognier. Ultra lifted nose of ripe apricots and black fruits,with this overtness reflected on the palate. A love or hate wine,big and powerful ,good length but it felt a little contrived for my taste. Others liked it more,and I'm sure it will find a lot of fans.

Dutschke St Jakobi Shiraz 2001

Dark chocolate,pepper and spice,good length,15% alc ,it showed a little on the finish but overall a very good wine.



Good fun. Thanks to Gavin and Mark for organising it. Much appreciated.


Cheers

[Gavin Trott]

"Very nice night.Good food(Regatta's in North Terrace,Adelaide),good service(extremely attractive waitperson of the female variety) and good company. Probably the finest gathering of wine palates Adelaide has ever seen. Well, maybe a gathering then. Oh,well,four wine nerds eating and drinking and enjoying themselves.

Tyrrels Belford Reserve Semillon 97

Good juice,needs more time. Signs of honey and toast coming to the fore,musk stick,pear and lime on the nose,a lot of life on the palate still. Plenty of acid,good length. Sit on it for a while yet.

clos Clare Shiraz 2001

Sweet dark cherry,blackberry fruit,liquorice,plenty of alcohol but didn't finish too hot. Full bodied,didn't really fill out the middle palate but a pleasant wine at the price($25). Perhaps $20 would be a more realistic price.

Petaluma Shiraz 2000

Touch of Viognier,I think 3%. Good complexity on the nose,nice floral notes. Only medium bodied. Didn't really deliver on the palate what it promised on the nose.Reflected the average vintage and possibly young vines too,it was thought. Not very good value at around $40

Haan Shiraz "Prestige" 2000

Completely different to the Petaluma,yet still with 8% Viognier. Ultra lifted nose of ripe apricots and black fruits,with this overtness reflected on the palate. A love or hate wine,big and powerful ,good length but it felt a little contrived for my taste. Others liked it more,and I'm sure it will find a lot of fans.

Dutschke St Jakobi Shiraz 2001

Dark chocolate,pepper and spice,good length,15% alc ,it showed a little on the finish but overall a very good wine.


Cheers

Hello All

Agree that it was a very enjoyable night (until Grant went into 'shutdown' at about 10 ish!), and also second the Regattas as being worthy of trying, great service, and the duck was wonderful, melt in the mouth!

I liked the Clos Clare, loved the nose of the Petaluma, if the palate slightly let it down, still, good wine.

The Haan, well I'm in the more impressed camp, lovely stuff, more Viognier than I expected, but all class and terrific fruit and intensity for a 2000 Barossa red ... great stuff.

The St Jakobi, well it was very nice, but I've had so many chocolatey Sth Australian Shiraz lately I must be a bit jaded, didn't show that well for me on the night.

Thanks to Steve Norman (707) for the lift, mark G for the organising in part, and Grant, great to meet you, good luck in the tournament.

[markg]

It is nice getting to meet people from the forum when they are passing through Adelaide. Its one of the fantastic benefits of hanging around these virtual communities.

Although Gavin sent a general alert to all Adelaidians that a visiting East coast wine geek would be passing through only 3 of us from Adelaide turned up (myself, Steve and Gavin) to greet our visiting golf player- Grant. Mind you, Adelaide being such an important international hub of science, politics, sport, religion and trade other Adelaidians had more important things on - 6 gave their apologies because they were deeply involved in diplomatic negotiations overseas, 8 were working overnight on ground breaking research experiments which would set Australian technical advances forward 50 years, 4 had invitations to a similar doo with Nicole Kidman and tried to get out of it but couldn't (she gets a bit bitchy when you don't show up for her dinners), 4 were seconded temporarily to various military bases around the globe to fight terrorism, communism and flatulism and the rest were off doing something else that was equally as important.

The resteraunt was Regattas in the Adelaide convention centre, overlooking the Torrens river. The food was very good (although I don't know if I can be unbiased as the head chef is a distant relative), I especially liked the Champagne Vinegar sauce with the oysters, apparently made from only the best French champagne. The warm rabbit salad was very tasty, the herb sorbet between meals was a great palate cleanser, my steak was especially good and Gavin and Grant said the Duck was terrific. The service was great but tapered off near the end of the night as we waited for our coffee and bill. Was there an attractive waitress ?? I didn't notice, being a married man and all.

The wines:

1997 Tyrrell's Belford Reserve Semillon
A white gold color with a dominant pear nose with hints of Gooseberry, toast and honey. Soft, tangy and elegant citrus flavours with nice acid and a very pleasant length.

2001 Clos Clare Shiraz
Dark purple, with pepper, plum and (if I may borrow Steves very apt descriptor) gunsmoke on the nose. A confectionary flavour profile like a Serifino or an O'Leary Walker Shiraz with nice weight, plums, blackberry and brambles leading into a nice finish. An easy drinking wine.

Petaluma 2000 Shiraz
A bit lighter in color than the Clos Clare. Another confectionary wine that was a bit simple and one dimensonal I thought.

2001 Dutschke Saint Jacobi Shiraz
Served blind and I well and truly stuffed up all my guesses. I have had this wine on many occassions and didn't recognise it at all (must have been the champagne vinegar).

2000 Haan Prestige Shriraz
A dark purple with a nose of seaweed and white pepper, a heavy, silky palate of good complexity.


All in all a very enjoyable night. Looking forward to the next one - How about a few more Adelaideians time, I mean if you guys can get away from all your really important affairs for a few hours ?

Good luck Grant and please let us know how you do in the tournament.

[Wizz]

It is nice getting to meet people from the forum when they are passing through Adelaide. Its one of the fantastic benefits of hanging around these virtual communities.

Although Gavin sent a general alert to all Adelaidians that a visiting East coast wine geek would be passing through only 3 of us from Adelaide turned up (myself, Steve and Gavin) to greet our visiting golf player- Grant. Mind you, Adelaide being such an important international hub of science, politics, sport, religion and trade other Adelaidians had more important things on - 6 gave their apologies because they were deeply involved in diplomatic negotiations overseas, 8 were working overnight on ground breaking research experiments which would set Australian technical advances forward 50 years, 4 had invitations to a similar doo with Nicole Kidman and tried to get out of it but couldn't (she gets a bit bitchy when you don't show up for her dinners), 4 were seconded temporarily to various military bases around the globe to fight terrorism, communism and flatulism and the rest were off doing something else that was equally as important.

So if I were to pass through Adelaide again in, say March, and have some time on my hands, I should let all you Adelaide forumites know? (I was in Adelaid in Jan too but managed to completely fill three days) Maybe the Nicole Kidman invitees could be moved, or hell, they could just bring Nic along as well...

Andrew

[Gavin Trott]

It is nice getting to meet people from the forum when they are passing through Adelaide. Its one of the fantastic benefits of hanging around these virtual communities.

Although Gavin sent a general alert to all Adelaidians that a visiting East coast wine geek would be passing through only 3 of us from Adelaide turned up (myself, Steve and Gavin) to greet our visiting golf player- Grant. Mind you, Adelaide being such an important international hub of science, politics, sport, religion and trade other Adelaidians had more important things on - 6 gave their apologies because they were deeply involved in diplomatic negotiations overseas, 8 were working overnight on ground breaking research experiments which would set Australian technical advances forward 50 years, 4 had invitations to a similar doo with Nicole Kidman and tried to get out of it but couldn't (she gets a bit bitchy when you don't show up for her dinners), 4 were seconded temporarily to various military bases around the globe to fight terrorism, communism and flatulism and the rest were off doing something else that was equally as important.

So if I were to pass through Adelaide again in, say March, and have some time on my hands, I should let all you Adelaide forumites know? (I was in Adelaid in Jan too but managed to completely fill three days) Maybe the Nicole Kidman invitees could be moved, or hell, they could just bring Nic along as well...

Andrew

You're on, I'll phone Nic, and make the arrangements.

Andrew, just give me a bit of notice and we'll organise something fun for you.

[Wizz]

You're on, I'll phone Nic, and make the arrangements.

[Grant Dodd]

Guys,

Just a bit of a post script.......

when I passed out at the restaurant,I happened to leave my credit card at the restaurant. Rang back the next day,they had rung the ANZ and had been advised to CUT IT UP !! Not good. So no card for the week,and on to NZ now still with out the new one in my possession.Long story that part,won't bore you with details.

Golf was average,missed the cut. 3 under after 12 holes on Thursday but things went pear shaped after that,missed by three shots.

Got some tasting in though on the weekend. d'Arenburg,Coriole,Rockford,Turkey Flat,Chateau Tanunda and a meal at 1918 in Tanunda on Sat night. Very good food,great anti pasto and Moreton bay bugs.

Had the remainder of the Haan Shiraz the following night. The stewed apricot character was even more overt,even more cloying and sweet. Wasn't too badly oxidised. When I compared it to the Laughing Magpie later in the week,it made me think that they just got it a bit wrong in terms of the balance of the wine.

Other highlights were the Rockford BP 2001 and VP 97. Enough written about them so I won't bother adding any more.

All the best


Cheers

[Geoffrey]

Grant
Put a message in your private message bin some days ago re your visit to Christchurch, have you read it ?

Geoffrey