TN: 07 Duck Muck, 96 Veritas Hanisch, 98 Cyril Henschke and

[bacchaebabe]

A mini offline on Friday night to try the latest release of Duck Muck, very kindly dropped off to us by David "Duck" Anderson as Christo, Baby Chickpea and myself could not make the organised tasting this year. We all brought a couple of bottles and it ended up being quite an extraordinary tasting with four truly sublime wines. The rest weren't bad either.

96 Duval-Leroy Champagne Clean yellow colour. Biscuity yeast nose. Fine bubbles. Touch of lemon butter with a hint of honey. Nice and zesty. Went particularly well with the sour dough bread. 93

98 Chambertin Grand Cru Frederic Esmonin Clear bright red with a bright cherry nose. A bit dumb and closed on the palate though. Sweet nose with a richness of honey but unfortunately it just wasn't delivering on the palate for me. I tasted it again towards the end and it had opened up a little but I think this needed a lot more air time to deliver what it promised on the nose. 90

04 Tua Rita Redigaffi Rosso Toscana This was served blind and I had absolutely no clues as to what it might have been. Turns out it's 100% merlot and it is by far and away the best straight merlot I've ever had. Actually, as far as I'm aware the only other straight merlot I've had is the 94 Irvine Grand Merlot and it was very fine but this leaves that in it's dust. A very intense and rich nose with elements of blood and honey. My first guess would have been a burgundy actually but it's a little more savoury with some lovely deep seated mulberry. This had a beautiful finish and really was the goods. I was very impressed indeed with this. 97

98 Henschke Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon Clean minty nose. Very elegant with a beautiful core of sweet fruit. A really lovely wine with some honey notes on the blackcurrant centre. Fantastic depth and length. Just gorgeous. 97

96 Veritas Hanisch Shiraz Big pepper notes on the nose. Full bodied but still elegant and very primary. Quite rich with black fruits and a touch of anise. This still has a long future and unfortunately was just double decanted rather than sitting for some time in the decanter. It was still drinking superbly though. Another absolute stunner. 97

07 Wild Duck Creek Duck Muck Interestingly, this doesn't actually have the vintage on the bottle. It is on a sticker on the box but it could cause some confusion in the future. I guess being the first stelvin release might help and it does say it's the 7th release on the back label. Anyway, this was decanted at 9am on the day and left in the decanter until 5.30 when it went back into the bottle. The colour of this is a completely impenetrable black purple. You can see the difference in viscosity in the glass between this and the other wines. It's a very different beast indeed. It actually tastes purple. Although you can taste the alcohol, it's not hot at all but in fact is very smooth. There's an alarming lack of tannins with black fruits, licorice and a little spice. It's like a black cat and is a super sexy wine that coats the taste buds and just glides down your throat, leaving you purring. Voluptuous doesn't begin to describe it. It is, dare I say it, prodigious, indeed. This is essence of shiraz and the joy of being able to enjoy a full glass of this over dinner is sublime. It's a stunning wine indeed and I'll look forward to enjoying this in the future. Stunning. 98

97 d'Arenberg The Noble Riesling Dark orange colour. Apricoty lusciousness with a touch of ginger and a clean long finish. Matched the cream brulee and the ginger cake very well indeed and got better and better in the glass. 92

08 Piggs Peak Suckling Pig shiraz Colour a deep, deep purple with purple edges. The fruit is apparently from the McLaren vale off 38 year old vines. It's a dessert shiraz with 70gm residual sugar. The first one I've ever had and it won't be the last. I absolutely loved this. Really well judged sweetness. The depth of flavour on this is incredible. Intense rich blackcurrant and plums. 95

08 Wild Duck Creek Fortified Shiraz It was a little harder to judge this next to the Suckling Pig as it was a lot dryer. tasted in isolation though it was very good indeed. Deep purple - there's been a recurring theme with that. Sweet core of black fruits. Very intense but also very drying, especially next to the Suckling Pig and with the desserts. It was much better against the cheeses where it really held its own. 92

A great night and thanks to all involved for the usual generosity and a huge thanks to David Anderson for giving us this opportunity to taste his flagship wine.

[griff]

Not a bad effort at all between three people

cheers

Carl

[bacchaebabe]

Actually, there was six of us in total but it was still a pretty good effort.

[ross67]

Outstanding night by the sound of it Kris....and i really enjoyed your notes and descriptors.
How much is the Duck Muck again?

ross

[Maximus]

Where is chickpea these days???

I miss his posts...

Sounds like a great night Kris, thanks for sharing.

[griff]

Actually, there was six of us in total but it was still a pretty good effort.

Even with six of you I hope noone drove home!

cheers

Carl

[bacchaebabe]

Ha ha, nope, no one drove. Walking, trains and taxis were the order of the day.

Danny is around but I guess he's just not posting too much these days. We all have our busy periods!

Ross, the Duck Muck is $200 from the winery. On the secondary market it is most commonly $500 but can go up to $800 depending on vintage (and Parker points). Definitely best to get on the mailing list if you can - just don't muzzle in on my allocation!

[rooman]

Danny seems to turn up most nowadays on either ebob or the UK wine pages.

[RedVelvet]

Sounds like a great night with some great wines. I am still to try a Duck Muck and reading your notes places more emphasis on my need to track one or more down and try it some time.