Brisbane Offline December 2010

[gpk]

Gerry

I've lost your phone number and I've spoken to Ed. He'll be coming (I assume its 7pm on Saturday nite) - if its OK with you he'll swap the 2006 RWT for the 04 Mt Mary.

Nick - with any luck our final number will be 12.

Counting down the sleeps

Luke

no problem, the swap will work for me. just landed in perth and making my way to Brissy. can't wait for Sat night. cheers Gerry

[steady]

Thanks Gerry, Looking forward to it.

As Craig can't make it, do you want me to bring a VP to finish things off... I think I have some 1980's Para tucked away.

Or are we too late to order glassware from the restaurant?

Cheers, Ed

[Michael McNally]

Thanks Gerry, Looking forward to it.

As Craig can't make it, do you want me to bring a VP to finish things off... I think I have some 1980's Para tucked away.

Or are we too late to order glassware from the restaurant?

Cheers, Ed

Dear Ed

Thank you for spotting the gap in our lineup . I generally don't speak for others, but on this occasion I am happy to say "Yes, bring your port!" on behalf of all those who will be at the offline.

Cheers

Michael

[Rednick]

Just confirmed with Brent's 7:30 kick off for 12 people.

Cheers - Nick

[Luke W]

Hi team

Should we look at any particular order for the wines to be presented tonite?

Just a quick look -

Flight 1
2008 or 2009 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (Ian)
2005 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay (Nick)
2005 Giaconda Chardonnay (Gerry)

Flight 2
2003 Cullen Diana Madeline (Tim)
2005 Cullen Diana Madeline (Rens)
2005 Moss Wood Cabernet (Michael)
2004 Mt Mary Quintet (Ed)
2009 Clonakilla Shiraz Viogner (Tim)

Flight 3
2002 Rockford Basket Press (Ian)
2006 Rockford Basket Press (Michael)
2003 Torbreck RunRig (Rens)
2005 Wendouree (Luke)
1996 Penfolds Grange (Gerry)

Port (Ed)

I'm salivating just writing this and its 7 in the morning!

cheers

Luke

[TiggerK]

Amazing looking lineup, almost makes me want to become a Queenslander...

Too many glasses required for flights of five, I'd go flights of 3.... also gives the wines a chance to shine without too many others competing. Another thought is that if you have any real star wines (Grange 96 qualifies!), best not to put them dead last, palates can be a bit tired, livers working overtime etc... Very Humbly, I would suggest something like this...

Flight 1
2008 or 2009 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (Ian)
2005 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay (Nick)
2005 Giaconda Chardonnay (Gerry)

Flight 2
2003 Cullen Diana Madeline (Tim)
2005 Cullen Diana Madeline (Rens)
2005 Moss Wood Cabernet (Michael)

Flight 3
2003 Torbreck RunRig (Rens)
2005 Wendouree (Luke)
1996 Penfolds Grange (Gerry)

Flight 4
2004 Mt Mary Quintet (Ed)
2009 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier (Tim)

Flight 5 (or merge with 4)
2002 Rockford Basket Press (Ian)
2006 Rockford Basket Press (Michael)

Port (Ed)

Have a great night, looking forward to some notes and pics!

Cheers
Tim

[rens]

I'm happy with either but Tigger makes a good point. With 5 in a flight would Brents be able to do 60 glasses at a time and would there be enough room on the table with the food.

[Luke W]

I just spoke to Kylie and she indicated that she would have no problems with flights of 3 wines. Thanks Tim for you suggestions, particularly palate fatigue.
I'm happy to go along with Tim's list - any other thoughts....

[tim1210]

wow. what a great looking list! i have just decanted my 09 clonakilla SV and am going to do the 03 cullen DM shortly... see you all there!

[rens]

I just spoke to Kylie and she indicated that she would have no problems with flights of 3 wines. Thanks Tim for you suggestions, particularly palate fatigue.
I'm happy to go along with Tim's list - any other thoughts....

OK. If Kylie can do threes then I'm happy with Tim's suggestion too. Vey much looking forward to tonight.
Rens

[rens]

Wow what a night. Wow what a hang over! But very much worth it. It was great to catch up with everyone last night and also great to meet Nicole, Ed, Tim and Ian.
The wines were exceptional and Michael has taken some great notes that he will no doubt post later in the day.
My two stand outs were the 1996 Grange. It's 14 years old but you could not tell. No zit cream and braces here. It will be amazing in another 20 years. Then the Mount Mary was also a real nice wine that I'm going to need more of in the future. Honorable mention to Gerry's Blend too.
Thanks to everyone for a great night and their generosity with the wines. So when's the next one???

Oh and Michael I see we did win last night- 17 in a row!

[steady]

Thanks everyone, a wonderful night with some fantastic wines and great company. Looking forward to the next one.

Cheers, Ed

[Michael McNally]

Sorry to hear about the hangover Rens. My pre-emptive barocca yesterday afternoon must have worked as I am bright as a button today! Well a slightly dusty button anyway….

A fabulous night to round out the offlines for the year. Nice to see some new faces (Ian, Ed and Gerry’s partner Nicole) and welcome back Tim who was celebrating graduating from medicine. The wines were from the Exceptional Category in the Langton’s Classification, and were indeed exceptional. They were served in brackets of three or pairs (thanks for the suggestion TiggerK).

My notes were brief and represent the author’s opinion only. Hopefully some of the others will chip in with their thyoughts…..

Bracket 1 – Served with an Amuse Bouche of Crème Fraiche and roe (ocean trout?)

2008 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
An excellent start to cleanse the palate and warm up the tastebuds. A combination of lime juice/lemon pith fruit with a steely /flinty spine. Great texture. The lime wins out in the contest of flavours, but it’s a fun struggle. Excellent.

2005 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay
Barrel ferment obvious on the nose. Almost a classic full-blown aussie chardonnay style, but with some restraint showing. Complex. A mouthful of flavour but really needs time to settle. Excellent.

2005 Giaconda Chardonnay
Different nose to the LEAS. More mealy funky (Ed said “compost”!) Less fruit, more barrel. The compost disappears. Some grilled nuts come out but the acid still balances. Initially I preferred the LEAS, but this won me over the longer I tried them side by side. Both need a lot more time. Excellent.

WOTF – Giaconda (for interest)

Bracket 2 - Served with Crumbed & fried goats cheese, beetroot & sorbet, candied walnuts & mache; or Seafood bisque, sautéed seafood crusty loaf & sauce rouille; or Pork belly & ballontine, quince & apple, seeded mustard vinaigrette.

2003 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot
Austere restrained wine hovering between medium and full body. I found the fruit a little shy on this and was distracted by a ripe but slightly green tannin profile. Served blind I might have picked this as French. Very, Very Good.

2005 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot
This hits full-bodied just. Nick observed tobacco on the nose. This is coiled tight and shows a great deal of promise. More fruit (blackberry) on this. Excellent.

2005 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
Nicest of the three on the nose. A lot more fruit , which also comes through on the palate with traditional cassis and gravel. Still a slight green leafy edge to the tannins, but less distracting than on the 03 Cullen. Very long. Excellent.

WOTF – Moss Wood

Bracket 3 – Served with nothing at all as there was a glass mix up. After having big glasses for the previous flight, they were replaced with smallish glasses. The group decided to wait till we could have bigger glasses given the wines that were coming. In the glass changeover the mains arrived. Crispy confit duck, butternut pumpkin, lemon curd & liquorice wafer; or Crispy skinned ocean trout, gribiche cream, sauce vierge, baby herb & lemon; or Braised Beef Cheek, truffle & prosciutto mash & port wine jus.

2003 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz
Alcohol on the nose and mint. Luscious almost vintage port like fruit. Rens said it was like “super-concentrated grape juice” (which was okay as it was his wine!). As it breathed in the glass stewed prunes and raspberry came out on the palate. Great Barossa Shiraz in a blockbuster style, but a little over the top for me. Very, Very Good.

2005 Wendouree Shiraz
Amazingly expressive nose of choc mint slice and I think Ian said camphor. The palate didn’t have the fruit or the body to match the nose. Stilll very enjoyable and with breathing a bit of raspberry and milk chocolate comes through. Perhaps we tried this too young and the palate will match the nose in the future. Very, Very Good.

1996 Penfolds Grange
The essence of wine. Fabulous nose with boot polish, graphite, blackberry, mixed spice abd chargrilled meats. Doesn’t smell or taste like a 14-year-old wine. Lovely balance, the drying tannin gets more prominent as the wine breathes. A fascinating wine that keeps drawing your attention to some other detail. Will do another decade at a canter. Truly Exceptional.

WOTF – Grange

Bracket 4 – Served with the cheese platters

2004 Mount Mary Quintet
Fabulous nose. Sweet, sweet almost confected fruit with rhubarb for interest. Not incredibly long but fantastic while it lasted. Went very well with the cheese. Excellent.

2009 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier
The viognier was really overt on this bottle. Even Tim got on board with the jokes about how much viognier was in it (25% 30%???). Not very popular. Good.

WOTF – Mount Mary

Bracket 5 – Served with Dessert: Sticky Date pudding, Vanilla bean ice cream & toffee sauce; or Rosemary & chocolate crème brulee, cherry & chocolate ice cream & biscotti

2002 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz
Classic Barossa Shiraz nose. Lovely velvety chocolate fruit. Still pretty tightly wound up. This will do great things in another 5-10 years. Excellent.

2006 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz
Bit more funk on the nose (Ian said it was “earthy”). The fruit is a little shier on this which I didn’t expect – I thought given the vintage it would be bigger than the 2002, but it was the other way round. Good length. Very, Very Good to Excellent.

WOTF – the 2002 (though both of these are still too young

Bracket 6 – Notes getting briefer and messier. I have written “sandblaster” but I think that was to remind myself of the conversation we were having about cleaning up my wine racks!

1985 Para Port
Great rancio. Excellent alcohol balance. Rich luscious. “limbs straight off” (WTF ??). Excellent. Not sure how, but I ended up bringing the rest of this home - thanks!

1978 ?????? Vintage Port
No notes, embarrased to say can't remember this one

NV Gerry’s Blend Port
No notes, but great stuff.

WOTF – Port was the winner out there today. Common sense the loser.

WOTN – the Grange by a long neck.

We said our goodbyes after a great night, bundled into cabs and went home. The food was excellent and the service was brilliant (apart from the glass mixup). A fantastic way to end the year. Thanks to everyone for bringing such great wines and good cheer.

Cheers

Michael

[ticklenow1]

My first Brisbane offline, and what a way to start. Exceptional wines from the Langtons Classification was the theme. As has been explained above, the wines were served in flights of 3 or 2.

Michaels notes are exemplary so I will just give my take on the night. I didn't take notes so this is just what I can remember.

First Flight: The '08 Grosset Polish Hill Reisling was a nice refreshing drop and a stellar way to start the night wine wise. Lots of lime and citrus with a very steely backbone, but was sort of overpowered by the 2 chardonnay's in this flight. It would be a fine Sunday afternoon, sitting on the verandah type of drink but to me was a little out of place alongside the 2 blockbuster Chardonnay's. Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay is a personal favourite of mine and a 2001 example is one of the finest wines I have ever drank. The '05 was very oak dominant. Quite a big Chardy but none the less a pleasure to drink. I would love to revisit this wine in 4 or 5 years time as I think the balance should have improved a lot by then. The '05 Giaconda was a first experience in this label for me. It had to of had the most unusual nose I have experienced in a high end Chardy. It came across like rotting vegetation or compost at first but did settle down after a while in the glass. On the palate though it was excellent. It was marginally better balanced the the Art Series as the oak was better intergrated, but I am not sure if it will have the longevity of the Leeuwin. It was definitely the most interesting wine of the flight.

Second Flight: For me, this was the most difficult flight to pick a best wine. The 2 Cullens were quite outstanding but the Moss Wood had something about it that made it a slight favourite of the 3 wines. The '03 DM was the smoothest of the 3 but lacked the fruit intensity of the '05 DM. The Moss Wood had a wonderful nose and almost made it to full bodied. I found the tannins a little dry but it has the X factor the DM's lacked. This is not to say that the DM's were not great wines, they are, but to me they are a "safe" wine that do nothing wrong, but don't jump out and make them extremely memorable.

Third Flight: Started with the '03 Run Rig. I didn't notice the Viogner component at all and the oak was restrained in a way that makes it a better wine. It improved in the glass for the first 30 minutes but then seemed to decline slightly. It became a little stewed (which may be a result of the vintage) and I thought the alcohol showed a little too much. It assumed that it might have had upwards of say 15.5% but on reading the label it was only 14.5%. Nice wine all the same. Next was the '05 Wendouree Shiraz. This wine probably had the best nose of the night. Lots of minty chocolate with a good dose of what smelt like camphor to me. It could have been eucalypt though. For a wine to have such a big nose, I was expecting a big blockbuster fruit bomb. This was not the case. It was only medium bodied and was (for a young wine) remarkably restrained. I have only ever experienced the '99 and it was a real blockbuster. I left some to the side for about an hour and the primary fruit did start to show a little more with some time in the glass. I can't help thinking that a couple of more hours may have made it an even better wine. Long life ahead for this. Last of the flight was the wine that I got the impression everyone was waitng for, and rightly so. It was hard to believe that this wine was 14 years old. The '96 Grange was in stunning shape. I have had this before and honestly can't remember it being this great. It had fantastic colour and did really come off as a young wine, in colour and taste. I thought the nose was a little restrained but once I tried it...WOW. I won't go into too many details other than to say it was like a sledge hammer in a velvet glove. I also left a little of this to the side and it too just got better and better (although i did make the sin of spilling a bit and was rightly chastised!). As it breathed some more it started to try and open up even more, although once again, a couple of more hours and it may have sung an even better tune. This still has years ahead and if only I had some......A huge thank you to Gerry for being generous enough to share this wine.

Fourth Flight: For me, this was the most anticipated of the night. Mount Mary Quintet is not a wine that I have been overly impressed with on the couple of occasions that I have been lucky enough to try it. But this bottle of '04 was simply stunning. After the third flight of bigger medium fo full bodied wines, this was a step back. Wonderfully smooth and just so well balanced. Michael is probably right to say that it wasn't very long and didn't last in the glass. But my glass didn't last long enough to find out. I just loved it, which came as a suprise to me. One thing I am not sure about is it's ageing potential. While there was plenty of fruit and well intergrated (in the very background) oak for now, if Michaels comments on it not lasting in the glass are true, then I would drink it now if I was lucky enough to have any. To me everything was where it should be. Probably the most approachable wine of the night. Next came what I was looking forward to the most. Clonakilla Shiraz Viogner is a wine I have never tried so I was excited about this being on the menu. I had read all the plaudits that have been laid on this wine by the critics and was chomping at the bit to slurp this '09 example. As soon as I put my nose to it I knew it was not going to be what I thought it would be. On the nose it was over the top on sweet apricots and orange fleshy fruit. I commented that it was like sticking your nose in a bowl of fruit salad. It was also commented on by several present that it had to be 20 or so % Viogner. It was just that sweet smelling. It didn't get any better on the palate either. It was sickly sweet and I just couldn't drink it. I have read about bottle variation and just have to put this down to it. How could so many wine experts and commentaters rave about this wine and so many at the table not enjoy it. It's the only explanation. Either that or I am sitting on a couple of bottles that I had better leave for a long time in the hope that it improves a hell of a lot. Sorry Tim, you said you bought a lot of it.

Fifth Flight: 2 Rockford Basket Press's, '02 and '06. The 02 was served in a decanter which I think helped this wine a hell of a lot. I have read some poor reviews about this vintage (on this forum as well), but I thought this wine to be superb. Typical Barossa Shiraz with lots of black fruit and a little chocolate. It is drinking well now but I agree that it will go for many years yet. I'll be leaving my remaining bottles for about another 4 or 5 years at least. The '06 was another suprise to me as well. I thought it to be quite drinkable now but it will definitly not be touched at my place for another 8-10 years. I found it a little earthy on the nose and all the primary fruit was still hidden at this young age. What these two wines did do though, was to restore my faith in Basket Press. I have read so many people critisising Basket Press lately that I was beginning to wonder. I have to admit that I have always preferred Rockford's cabernet to the Basket Press but these two wines may alter that opinion somewhat.

I did not partake in any of the after dinner wines as I just don't enjoy them. Better left to the lovers of that style. From what I could gather from the comments made, was that Gerry's blend was a real winner.

The food at Brent's was excellent. I had the Pork Belly entree and the Beef Cheeks for main and both were superb as was the Rosemary & Chcolate creme Brulee, cherry & chocolate ice cream & Biscotti. The palate cleansers were also delicious. Another serve of Beef Cheeks would have gone down a treat. The only downside was the mix up with the glasses and in the rush to bring back the red wine glasses, 2 of mine came straight out of the glass washer quite hot, which affected the tempeature of the wine once it was poured into the glasses. A small hiccup which in no way affected the night. This was my first offline and I think I have started at the top. This night will take some beating, let me tell you.

One thing that did strike me though was the diverse group of people that attended. From a just graduated Doctor, a union official, an anaesthetist, a brewery worker, a nurse and myself (a refinery technician). And that was just the people down my end of the table. a great mix! It is amazing how wine can bring together such a different bunch of people. It really was a great night and I look forward to the next outing. This will be hard to toop though!

Cheers and thanks to all for the lovely wine and conversation
Ian

[daz]

Sounds like an excellent evening. It seems Brent's is at least as good as it was when Allan, Sue and I were there; pity though there was that faux pas with the large red wine glasses. Wish I'd been there but not too disappointed at having missed the sv blends.

Cheers

daz

[Rednick]

A fantastic night, great company as always, wonderful food and some truly exceptional wines;

The pick of the flights for me,

First Flight, the Grosset was great but needs a lot more time, showed some signs of petrol and will be great down the track. For me the pick of the two Chardy's was the Art Series, I loved the Candy floss nose of the Giaconda - but the art series has the slight spritz I look for in chardy.

Second Flight, probably my favourite flight of the night the 03 Cullen was drinking beatifully, a balanced wine with some tobbaco leaf and showing some nice secondary characters and the pick of the flight, the 05 was a powerhouse - too early to be drinking this but certainly has the legs to go the distance, lastly Moss Wood displayed a fantastic intensity of rich fruit, delicious but I felt a bit simple at this stage again needs plenty of time to build.

Third Flight, I'll admit upfront I'm not a big Shiraz drinker - Really enjoyed the liqourice notes of the Torbreck and was a very different wine from the other two, the Wendouree was drinking nicely but certainly needed a lot more time and the Grange was an abolsute monster, as others have commented - hard to beleive this wine is 14 years old - will give pleasure for many years to come.

Fourth Flight, Thoroughly enjoyed both of these wines, probably in a mintority with the Clonakilla but I enjoyed the restraint this showed and felt the viognier well judged and will integrate very nicely over time, the Mount Mary was my wine of the night, a beatifully balaned bordeaux blend - showed a great deal of finesse with a lovely perfumed nose and subtle structure to back it all up.

Fifth FLight, Not really my style but nevertheless two intersting wines, not sure how much longer the 02 will go for plenty of fruit but didn't seem to have much support but drinking well now, the 06 certainly has a great deal more structure and would be interesting to see this again down the track.

Then onto the ports, yummo and I think I finally understand the difference between Tawny, Vintage Tawny and Vintage Port.

Bit dusty the next day but well worth it

Can't wait for the next one and do like Michael's / Luke's idea of looking at the other end of the scales and looking at our best "value wines / quaffers"

Cheers - Nick

[daz]

Value wines/quaffers sounds like an interesting theme.

[chillwrx]

Value wines/quaffers sounds like an interesting theme.

Yes, very interesting..................................

How sober was everybody when this was discussed.

I am sorry I missed it and sorry that I was not their to argue this case. How about we make it everybodies favourite quaffer valued over $150.?