Some lower Elderton Wines.

[DaveL]

I showed the bottom end of the Elderton range on Thursday, just a few VERY brief impressions, since some of us regard this forum as a sort of vicarious thrill where we read about wine we'll never be able to drink...but it's still nice to dream...
The plastic thimbles didn't flatter the wines, but there you go.
The UWC was quite nice though not my cup of…wine? I found some nice white stone fruit on the nose which followed on to a round mouth filling palate. I found a touch of oxidisation, burnt matches maybe that added a savoury complexity to the wine. Finished somewhat abruptly, more alcohol than anything else.
The Tantalus was nice, simple red berries on both nose and palate, I did find a touch of spritzig (I mean "zing") in my mouth. Finished with acid rather than tannin.
The Shiraz, to my palate was not the step up in quality I'd expected, at least not in comparison to the Cab Sav. I found the same red berries on the nose that I'd already seen in the Tantalus. A richer palate for sure, but I wasn't really that impressed.
The Cab Sav was surely the most impressive. A fairly quiet nose, but nice mouth coating flavours. Rich flavours of chocolate, mint and coffee that lingered on the finish. A wine to enjoy with richer food or in lieu of an after dinner mint! This was the only one that had people asking for another taste.

I know there's better qpr wines out there, but these were another few for me to add to my wine appreciation experience. I checked TORB's site for some pointers before the tasting and was surprised to find that we were totally opposed when weighing up the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, it's nice to see that we can all see different things in our wines...but usually I find myself nodding sagely on the rare occasions our tasting experiences coincide.

[TORB]

Dave,

Did you taste the Friends or the Estate Range and which vintage?

[DaveL]

The UWC was 2003, the Tantalus 2002, and the remaining two were the friends range, both 2001.

[simm]

Agree with the Cabernet Dave. And to my palate (at this point in time) was the preffered wine when up against its big sister Cammand 99.

chowder.