02 Steingarden: this vineyards was planted due to a family holiday the Gramp family had in Mosel where they saw these Riesling vineyards plated on slatey soil high up on the Mosel River. When the Gramps arrived back in australia, they found a pach of dirt high up in the Eden valley and blasted a vineyard out of the slatey soil. Called Steingarden becuase the vineyard workers cursed working on this vineyard and labeled it 'Garden of Stone'. The 02 Steingarden is sourced 80% from this vineyard and another 20% from similar profile vineyards in the Eden Valley.
The 02 Steingarden was matched up against the 02 Framingham 'Dry Riesling from Marlborough and absolutely blew it away. A bit pongy when first opened up (due to sulphar in the wine?) this quickly blew off to reveal a stunning riesling that was minerally, tight and racy with lemon/lime characterists and sensational length. This wine will live for 20 plus years.
Next was the 01 St Hugo. All the wines were served blind and at first this wine threw me because it is not your normal St Hugo. So big in structure and fruit, to me this meant that it lost a bit of it's varietal characteristics. Aged 20 months in French Oak, the fruit had eaten the oak and even though it is a massive wine, the fruit-oak levels were not out of balance.
Sam Kurtz thinks the 01 is a dead ringer for the 98 and is nearly exactly the same stage as what the 98 was, at the same age. For longevity, hold the 99 and 00. This will be a great wine when young, but I think it will not be a long-term (15 plus years in the cellar) wine.
We then had the 98 Centenary and 98 Jacaranda together. For me, the Jacaranda was the better wine. The 98 Jacaranda is a benchmark Australian Cabernet and will be ranked as one of the great Aussie Cab's out of the 90's. It's balance was impeccable, the purity of fruit amazing and palate length superb. Almost faultless.
The 98 Centenary on the other hand was a bit disjointed and showing too much vanillian oak characteristics at the moment. Winemaker Sam Kurtz thinks this wine is just starting to settle down, and has come forward in leaps and bounds over the last 12 months. For me it needs another 12 months to let the fruit come through. Like the 01 St Hugo, I think it will eat the oak and be a very good wine.
I asked Sam if they would ever switch to French Oak and his answer was a flat no. With the reasoning that American Oak and the Barossa is a match made in heaven. Whilst I agree to a point, I think that heaps of wines from the Barossa are smothered by the American Oak.
We finished with the Show Rutherglen Tokay and by the end of it, I was full to the brim with food and wine!!
cheers
Anthony
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