Feb Midweek #2

[malliemcg]

1980 Wolf Blass Canbernet Sauvignon-Shiraz Black Label

The lovely wife spent many days a searching Canberra for this one, well any 1980 wine really, and I have to say that I think she hit the jackpot. Started out with Black Currant and a truffley undergrowth thing happening, unfortunately I did not pay too much attention, but rather enjoyed all this wine had to offer in the moment, courtesy of some Riedel Vinum Burg glasses from the little one. It fell apart fairly quickly, so was a good thing we hooked in early and hard. Brilliant start to the decade that will be my thirties! I be a thoroughly spoiled, very happy fellow right about now!

[jeremy]

Felt like bigs hits of flavour before I began my "healthy" living regime...

2008 Mountadam Chardonnay- lots of malo and grilled peaches and nuts. Fine by me.

2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz- considering what they had to deal with, this is quite good. Oak is a little raw & dominant. But F it. It's well priced and these guys have already got the runs on the board. I'm sure the usual over delivery for the $ will be back in full next vintage. For now it's priced nicely.

[monghead]

2009 Clonakilla Viognier Nouveau- What happened to this wine? A few months ago, light, spicy, delightful. Now, banana-rama. Over-whelming banana aromas, and a heavier, viscous mouthfeel. Confused... Not Rated.

Monghead.

[pstarr]

2009 Clonakilla Viognier Nouveau- What happened to this wine? A few months ago, light, spicy, delightful. Now, banana-rama. Over-whelming banana aromas, and a heavier, viscous mouthfeel. Confused... Not Rated.

Monghead.

Sounds like it has aged and the fruit has backed off. You might have also copped some ferment esters (that banana) that were particularly apparent at this moment in the life of the wine (think this was all one tank). Basically, this wine is best straight from tank (like beaujolais nouveau) and is intended to be consumed shortly after release.

[Michael R]

Salomon Undhof Pfaffenberg Riesling 2007 (Austria)
I was out for dinner so didn’t take notes. From memory, entry was soft, dry & minerally, finish was quite strong and long. Plenty of citrus. Light and pure, but in no way trivial. It felt like a very affable introduction followed by some interesting conversation. Sealed with a glass cork.

[griff]

2003 Tamar Ridge Riesling
Screwcap. A luminescent yellow green. Strong lime Cottee's cordial on the nose. The palate is heavy and lime drenched on toast and kero. Interesting mouthfeel with the acidity on top of a rolling fruit underlay. Long piercing finish. Excellent wine and a match with the stir-fried cumin beef and peking-style pork belly on the claypot rice. Didn't match the Oyster omelette but I didn't care as that was Rebecca's best dish tonight

cheers

Carl

[monghead]

2009 Clonakilla Viognier Nouveau- What happened to this wine? A few months ago, light, spicy, delightful. Now, banana-rama. Over-whelming banana aromas, and a heavier, viscous mouthfeel. Confused... Not Rated.

Monghead.

Sounds like it has aged and the fruit has backed off. You might have also copped some ferment esters (that banana) that were particularly apparent at this moment in the life of the wine (think this was all one tank). Basically, this wine is best straight from tank (like beaujolais nouveau) and is intended to be consumed shortly after release.

Thanks for that pstarr. The wines are not more than 6 months old though... Will try another soon.

Cheers,

Monghead.

[PaulV]

2001 Houghtons Frankland River Shiraz Still black red colour. Nose just reeks of eucalypt leaves and bushfire. Very extracted style , quite brutish and harsh with bitter tannins. Short hot finnish and more of the eucalyptic esters. Very disappointing.

[Chad]

Will be drinking a 2005 Symphony Hill Reserve Shiraz tonight with a mate. Very much looking forward to it. Will let you know how it goes. During the week I had a 2008 Cono Sur Pinot Noir. What an unbelievably good imported wine for $9/bottle. I don't even want to think how little money the grape pickers got for their work. It wasn't a complex, engaging kind of pinot experience, but for the price I still slowed down & thought about it a little which is more than I can say for some pinots at double the price.

Chad

[Dave Dewhurst]

Had a Torres Mas La Plana 2004 last night. Good wine with great fruit depth and lots of oak; very Spanish in character. Enjoyed it but it needs loads of time. Just a wee pup right now.

Pikes Riesling 2005 tonight; was a limey acid blast in a nice way on relase. Has rounded out a bit now with toasty honey but still with a hint of lime on the back palate and good acidity. Just started a Tahbilk Shiraz 1999 too, very rustic savoury Tahbilk style, great depth, spicy and peppery with lots of leather and plenty of plum and cherry depth. Lovely!

Cheers

Dave

[jeremy]

Will be drinking a 2005 Symphony Hill Reserve Shiraz tonight with a mate. Very much looking forward to it. Will let you know how it goes. During the week I had a 2008 Cono Sur Pinot Noir. What an unbelievably good imported wine for $9/bottle. I don't even want to think how little money the grape pickers got for their work. It wasn't a complex, engaging kind of pinot experience, but for the price I still slowed down & thought about it a little which is more than I can say for some pinots at double the price.

Chad

2005 was a very good vintage for the Granite Belt. I'm yet to taste an outstanding Symphony Hills wine but I've a had a few that were more than alright. Would love to hear how the 05 Reserve went down.

[Chad]

Jeremy

The 2005 Symphony Hill Premium Shiraz was very nice. It had a wonderful nose of fruit and earth with a mild hint of mint (which I like, some people don't). In fact it could have passed for a Mike Press Adelaide Hills Shiraz at first. It had that element of cool climate shiraz that again, I like. It showed some savoury meatiness & light berry fruits on the first night. On the second night it showed more dark chocolate, spice & stewed plums. We both thought it had an Italian-esque underplay about it. Dense, savoury and earthy. We liked it. Though personally I prefer to buy and drink Boireann wines as my Granite Belt fix each year without any hesitation. These truly are magnificant wines across the board.

Chad

[Bick]

A wine that went splendidly with some homemade pizza:

Fontodi Chianti Classico 2006 - delicious; it had that refreshing, but characterful sweet & sour cherry thing going on so typical of Italian reds, a nice touch of cedery oak and a hint of dried tea on the nose. Not overly ripe, but exactly ripe enough, it had a generous dollop of acid on the finish that made it highly quaffable. A definate recommender. {Good cork, $45}

[jeremy]

Jeremy

The 2005 Symphony Hill Premium Shiraz was very nice. It had a wonderful nose of fruit and earth with a mild hint of mint (which I like, some people don't). In fact it could have passed for a Mike Press Adelaide Hills Shiraz at first. It had that element of cool climate shiraz that again, I like. It showed some savoury meatiness & light berry fruits on the first night. On the second night it showed more dark chocolate, spice & stewed plums. We both thought it had an Italian-esque underplay about it. Dense, savoury and earthy. We liked it. Though personally I prefer to buy and drink Boireann wines as my Granite Belt fix each year without any hesitation. These truly are magnificant wines across the board.

Chad

Thanks Chad, good to hear. Like some regional earthiness in a GB shiraz. Totally agree re Boireann though. Peter Stark manages that vineyard extremely well.

[griff]

Last night was a 2007 Yalumba FDW [7c] Chardonnay
Light yellow. Interesting nose of struck match and battonage on some white flowers and spice. The palate was a tale of two halves with a very crisp acid top note that was sitting apart from a rounded leesy complex palate. Long lingering finish. Very Good wine but Excellent from Rebecca. The disjointedness detracted for me but the flavours were all sound. Should it mesh together this would be a stunning wine.

cheers

Carl