Capital tasters #10 - Rubicon (Mk II)

[Jordan]

Our regular Canberra tasting group met for our monthly dinner at Rubicon in Griffith last night. It was Tammy's turn to provide the wines and the options to keep us on our toes. The food at Rubicon was largely excellent as were the wines which provided a few suprises in options.

We drank:
2002 Veuve Cliquot
2009 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
2003 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay
2006 Daniel Bouland Cote de Brouilly Beajoulais Cru
2004 Rogana Montefico Barbaresco
1999 Rockford Shiraz VP

Impressions to follow soon.

Well done Rubicon on the food and thanks to Tammy for the vino!

[dlo]

Another excellent night of fine food and wine. Masking all the wine was a top idea. Makes you concentrate on identifiers and assess what is in the glass in front of you - always a challenge I enjoy, and made for some most perplexing decisions/outcomes in options. Thanks for a terrific night, Tammy.

I thought the food at Rubicon quite delicious. The pork belly, the best I've enloyed for some considerable time, the chicken/scallops dish pretty darn good but a notch below the former, a delectable confit of duck and a top notch cheese plate to finish. The glasware and service was, as always, of a very high standard.

I didn't take notes on the night but I thought the Veuve (91) excellent, very complex and moreish albeit more forward than the last bottle Lindsay served at her dinner some months back. The 09 Grosset (90) was a strange beast. The forward nature of this wine threw me but this riesling did display attractive florals, lime and minerality but for a 2009 I couldn't get over the toasty characters, particularly on the palate. The wine was well-structured, well-balanced and drinking extremely well. I thought it more like something from 2004/5 from a very good Clare producer. Atypically for an infantile Polish Hill, the mouth-searing acidity was nowhere to be seen in this bottle. I now need to try another to see why (just about) everyone else of (supposed) note rates this 95-100 points!? The 03 Hoddle's Chardonnay (89) is hanging in there nicely with some lovely oak and bottle development characters. Franco D'Anna is a skilful Yarra Valley winemaker who turns out most affordable reds and whites (mostly pinot noir and chardonnay) that last and this wine pays testimony to the family owner's long-term goal of make ageworthy wine of great character (at ridiculously low prices!). I thought the 2006 Gamay Cru (90) to be of a very high standard, elegant and silky with gorgeous sweet fruit, a nice brace of acid and most complimentary tannins. You'd be not disgraced thinking this a gorgeous young Burgundy. The 2004 Rogana Barbaresco (85) was quite a savoury style of wine with a small but not insignificant amount of brettanomyces that didn't totally detract from the overall equation (if you like just a little horse/mouse/bandaid/chicken poo in your wine) but I couldn't rate it higher with these "distractions". The Rockford VP (93 and WOTN) was utterly brilliant and rates as one of the best young Aussie's I've tried for many a year and a class above anything else served on the night. It deserves a full tasting note, something one of the group might like to do sometime later in this thread.

[griff]

ooh I have one of those VP's. Looking forward to the note

cheers

Carl

[pstarr]

It's definitely a good sign when after five bottles between five people, the sixth is a 750ml of port and gets utterly drained

[griff]

Sill waiting for the tasting note on the 99 Rocky VP

In the meantime I opened a 2001 Rockford VP last night. 17.5% (pretty low for a fortified. Lowest I've seen I think?)

A nose of plasticine at first that blows off to evoke milk chocolate, cherries, dare I say cherry ripe? Some aged brandy notes in there as well. I really do prefer VPs fortified with brandy. The palate is savoury with bayleaves, anise and cacao. Brandy snaps on the finish. The wine changes in the glass and decanter. Hard to pin down and demands another sip. For me the sign of a great wine. One of the best young aussie VPs I have had. As good as the 98 Ch. Reynella but I really should check Outstanding wine.

cheers

Carl

[dlo]

Sill waiting for the tasting note on the 99 Rocky VP

In the meantime I opened a 2001 Rockford VP last night. 17.5% (pretty low for a fortified. Lowest I've seen I think?)

A nose of plasticine at first that blows off to evoke milk chocolate, cherries, dare I say cherry ripe? Some aged brandy notes in there as well. I really do prefer VPs fortified with brandy. The palate is savoury with bayleaves, anise and cacao. Brandy snaps on the finish. The wine changes in the glass and decanter. Hard to pin down and demands another sip. For me the sign of a great wine. One of the best young aussie VPs I have had. As good as the 98 Ch. Reynella but I really should check Outstanding wine.

cheers

Carl

Sorry we haven't come back to you with a note/vibe. I was three parts cut by this point in the evening, so all I can say this was an opulent, powerful wine with a perfect blend of sweet fruit, subservient but noticeable savoury/cedary oak and extremely good spirit. The wine was in that terrific middle ground between youthful effervescence and statuesque maturity. For the life of me, I cannot recall the aroma/flavour profiles. Sorry I can't be of more help. Too much water's passed under the bridge!

[griff]

Sill waiting for the tasting note on the 99 Rocky VP

In the meantime I opened a 2001 Rockford VP last night. 17.5% (pretty low for a fortified. Lowest I've seen I think?)

A nose of plasticine at first that blows off to evoke milk chocolate, cherries, dare I say cherry ripe? Some aged brandy notes in there as well. I really do prefer VPs fortified with brandy. The palate is savoury with bayleaves, anise and cacao. Brandy snaps on the finish. The wine changes in the glass and decanter. Hard to pin down and demands another sip. For me the sign of a great wine. One of the best young aussie VPs I have had. As good as the 98 Ch. Reynella but I really should check Outstanding wine.

cheers

Carl

Sorry we haven't come back to you with a note/vibe. I was three parts cut by this point in the evening, so all I can say this was an opulent, powerful wine with a perfect blend of sweet fruit, subservient but noticeable savoury/cedary oak and extremely good spirit. The wine was in that terrific middle ground between youthful effervescence and statuesque maturity. For the life of me, I cannot recall the aroma/flavour profiles. Sorry I can't be of more help. Too much water's passed under the bridge!

Thanks dlo. If I can find it I'll do my best to drink it when we are in Sydney next month. Timing sounds perfect as I love the stage you describe

cheers

Carl