Grape Mates - Riesling Refresher

[dave vino]

Had our yearly Riesling refresher at Tim and Michelle's place. Was a great night, many thanks to our hosts for the night, lots of work in setting it all up.

It was a huge line-up and even with a 2pm start and 3pm kick-off we were still going at 11pm.

Food ranged from chicken, duck fat potatoes, caramelized onion, to mango salad and sausage, zesty tomato soup, roast pork, smoked salmon, chicken/pork terrine, ending up with Dave's famous cakes

Overall some very interesting wines.

Flight 1
2001 Orlando Steingarten Riesling
2002 Orlando Steingarten Riesling (WOTF)
2003 Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling
2005 Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling
The Steingartens were all pups with lots of life ahead of them, still amazes me that JC have such a 'serious' riesling in their stable.

Flight 2
2004 Jim Barry 'Florita' Riesling
2005 Trevor Jones Reserve Riesling
2004 Rockford Hand Picked Eden Valley Riesling
The Trevor Jones one was a bit out of left field and I really liked it. (along with the requisite massive TJ bottle). The Rockford for me was a pleasing drink now style with no pretensions.

Flight 3
2008 Ch. Ste. Michell Eroica Dr. Loosen Riesling (WOTF)
2009 Domaine Ostertag Vignoble d'E Riesling
2007 Stift Goettweig Silberbichl DAC Reserve Riesling
2010 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
The Dr Loosen was interesting being from the US, a bigger style with a tip of the hat to it's origins. Be good to throw in on an options night. The Grosset has a lovely feel at a young age but come back in 10 years.

Flight 4
2001 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
1994 Taylors St Andrews Riesling (WOTF)
The Taylors was probably going into it's tertiary stage which made it just that much more interesting and complex than the Grosset. The Grosset will still be going strong in 10 years whereas the Taylors won't last another 2-5 years.


Flight 5
2011 Auburn Alexandria Riesling
2011 Auburn Bendigo Riesling
2011 Mount Edwards Drumlin Riesling
2011 Felton Road Block 1 Riesling (WOTF)
The Auburns were really interesting and the numbers produced seem to beggar belief. Miniscule productions of around 750-ish bottles of each are produced. They both had differing characteristics, very floral noses, great length, good thinking mans wine. The Felton Road had an amazing balance of fruit and acidity, very Germanic.


Flight 6
2007 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreick Riesling Auslese (WOTF)
2007 Reinhold Haart Piesport Domherr Riesling Spatlese
1990 Langwerth Von Simmern Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Kabinett Halbtrocken Riesling (or something like that)
1975 Hof Sonneck, Johannisberger Holle Auslese
The Prum came bounding out of the glass with a huge nose, the unctuous mouth feel and huge length made it one to swirl in the mouth for a while. The Sonneck was still going strong (travelling better than the 90).

Random Flight 1
2008? Riorret The Abbey Pinot Noir
2010 The Cups Estate Pinot Noir
2006 Argyle Reserve Pinot Noir
3 completely different styles, lots of strawberries and cream from the Argyle (US) yet quite refined.

Random Flight 2 (MARK AS options)
1997 Wendouree Shiraz
1997 Penfolds RWT Shiraz
Have to learn to play the ball not the man, Wendouree, I was thinking Italian/Spanish, then Italian varieties by Australian producers (like the Giaconda Nebbiolo he got us with before), big tannins still present, this will last for years, lots of jammy fruit and spice will keep it in balance. The RWT was a bit musty at first but after 15mins it blew off to reveal an aging well shiraz.

Random Flight 3
2003 Kalleske Greenock Shiraz
2002 Gibson Gibson Barossavale Shiraz
I should have served the Seppelt VP in the next flight with these 2. Massive inky wines with matching tannins, give them another 10 years minimum.

Random Flight 4
Lindemans Old Reserve Liquer Muscat
Stanton and Kileen Classic Tokay
Seppelt 2006 Fortified Shiraz Touriga
Good way to finish off the night, the Lindemans was showing well, the Tokay was a lighter, fruitier style compare say to Campbells.

[griff]

That write-up took a lot of work. Thanks for the notes!

cheers

Carl

[dingozegan]

Looks like a good tasting (shame not to have been able to make it to this one). Thanks for the post, Dave.

Can anyone comment on how the various Steingarten vintages compare(d)?

Interesting comparative line-up in Flight 6. Glad to see the Haart P-D 2007 Spät featuring (again!). The Prüm is surely (delicious) infanticide and I find Haart more approachable (certainly for the 2007's) now (and it's Himmelreich vs Domherr), but I suppose it's unfair to compare an Auslese to a Spätlese. What were the sentiments round the table?

Amused that you found the Eroica "bigger", Dave (I've never found it particularly big ). But I guess it makes sense beside Ostertag and Grosset.

[Sharkey]

Sounds like a top night and the photos are great.

I could have filled the gap in your Steingarten flight. I managed to obtain some of the mythical 2004 'cleanskins' years ago and still have a case and a bit left.

[Maximus]

Dave,

What a great tasting - excellent notes and equally excellent photos. The whole tasting looked very well put together - a class act - a bugger that we don't have something like that locally here. Hopefully this sort of thing encourages people to get out there and explore all of the diverse personalities of Riesling.

How are Oz off-dry Rieslings perceived at the moment? Would be an interesting compare to include in a future tasting, perhaps juxtaposed by some Kiwi drier styles alongside the Aussie ones.

And kudos to the organizer for sourcing wines from NZ's undisputed best region for Riesling...

Cheers,

[cuttlefish]

Here are my notes:

Flight 1

Orlando Steingarten 2001
Youthful light golden yellow colour. Mineral kero notes. Nice lime notes. Palate is quite round and broad on entry. Has good length, and is still carrying its acid. Sweet grassiness. With air, showing more mature aromatic characters. Some lovely herbal aromas here, perhaps lavender ?

Orlando Steingarten 2002
Group Wine Of . A shade darker than the 2001 wine. Appears to me to be looking more developed than the 2001. A faintly cheesy aroma. Lemon and sweeter citrus elements. Soft entry, and beautifully balanced. Excellent mouthfeel. A question mark about the acidity which seems lacking. Nice meadow aromas.

Jacob's Creek Steingarten 2003
My wine of flight. Light yellow golden colour, with almost a hint of green. A leaner wine aromatically; mineral river-stone and very faint kero. Beautiful flavour and mouthfeel here. Fills the palate and the flavour stays.

Jacob's Creek Steingarten 2005
This wine a shade paler than '01, and '03. Lime cordial aroma, with sweet blossomy notes. The palate again has a fairly soft entry. A beautifully balanced and even palate.

Overall flight note (for me) was the impeccable balance of each of the wines.

Flight 2

Jim Barry "Florita" Vineyard 2004
Group Wine Of Flight. My wine of flight. Light yellow straw colour. Perhaps a fleck of green. Interesting chutney-like spice notes, and the citrus notes more towards orange fruits. Sweat and flint. A well balanced palate.

Trevor Jones Reserve 2005
Very similar colour to the Florita, but with half a shade more green. Faintly toasty mineral notes, and lemon citrus flavours. Very fine sizzly acidity. Fairly rich, but not quite the overall standard of the Florita.

Rockford handpicked Eden Valley 2004
Slightly more golden straw colour. Honey and apple aromas, and some nice bush-blossom and perhaps eucalyptus aromas. Seems a touch watery in this company, but did improve itself with air-time.

Flight 3

Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Dr Loosen 2008
Group Wine Of Flight. My wine of flight. Light yellow straw colour. Gingery, blossomy aromas, and sweet sweat. An off-dry palate, nicely balanced, vibrant, yet fine, with flavours towards tropical fruits.

Domaine Ostertag Vignoble d'E 2009
Light yellow with a shade of gold. Beautifully perfumed, with dry flowers/rosewater. The palate is light and even with a rippling flavourful acidic wave.

Stift Goettweig Silberbichl DAC Reserve 2007
Perhaps a shade darker than the Ostertag. Seems fairly shy. Sweetish mineral aromas. Appears simple at this stage of its life, but tasty.

Grosset Polish Hill 2010
I found it hard to get a read on this. Closed up tight aromatically. A tight and lean lemony palate. Faint spritz.


Flight 4(a)

Grosset Polish Hill 2001
My wine of flight. Light yellow straw colour. Mineral notes here of kero, and sea-spray, and then clean lime citrus. Faintly toasty. A powerful palate; tight and vibrant, and bordering bitterness, but seems to just avoid it. Long and flavourful, and is quite a powerhouse for its age. Looking youthful.

Taylors St Andrews 1994
Group Wine Of Flight. Nice golden colour. Honey and toast aromas, then lemon spread. Still some faint stony mineral notes. Sweet ripe mineral flavours adding to the experience, and a soft honeyed textural mouthfeel. Mature wine, but drinking well now.

Perhaps unfairly to the St Andrews, I chose my wine of flight here based on potential, and not how the wines were drinking on the day. I just couldn't go past how youthful the Grosset '01 was looking.



Flight 4(b)

Auburn Alexandra 2011
Light white straw with a faintly green/yellow tinge. Faintly yeasty aroma, and a suggestion of sweat, then hints of mandarin-type citrus. Not as sweet as the other three wines in this flight, yet just appears to need a better balancing acidity to maintain more vibrancy.

Auburn Bendigo 2011
Colour as above. Interesting liquorice note on the nose. Quite luxurious palate entry and glides across the palate. Textured. Lovely ripe orange flavours. The sweetest in this bracket.

Mount Edwards Drumlin 2011
Colour as above. Slatey aroma. More impact on the palate here with a lingering spiciness. Apple-skin like tartness, but again the off-dry style balances it out enough.

Felton Road Block 1 2011
My wine of flight. Colour as above. Faintly exotic with mineral notes, sulphur, then into pot pourri with some air-time. A lovely balance to the sweet-side-of-off-dry palate. The acidity here just perfectly counterpoints the sweetness. Quite grapey, but tasty. Some consensus at my end of the table was that this was Spatlese level of sweetness; not quite as sweet as Auslese level.


Flight 5

JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreick Auslese 2007
My wine of flight. Clear light yellow straw colour. Ever so faintly sweaty. Excellent tropical fruit flavours and weight and balance.

Reinhold Haart Piesport Domherr Spatlese 2007
Clear light yellow straw colour. Interesting vegetable-patch aromas here. Sweat, green-bean. Sweeter than the Langwerth (see below). Tasty wine.

Langwerth Von Simmern Hattenheimer Mannberg (Trocken) Spatlese 1990
I have no idea if my naming of this wine is correct, but I thought I heard someone mention it as Trocken. Light golden in colour. Toasty almost smoky aromas (not bitter). Clearly less sweet than auslese level. A long palate, and gently flavoured.

Hof Sonneck, Johannisberger Holle Auslese 1975
Deep golden in colour. At first a beautiful luggage leather aroma, with perhaps a little chemical aroma, but that did blow off to show more marmalady aromas, and cow-fur/animale. I recall there to still be faint acetone aromas later on this, but it had good rich flavour, and didn't detract too much.

That was the end of the organised tasting - or the riesling part, at least.

We then ran through a number of red wines in flights just to break the monotony of riesling...

A brace of Pinot Noirs:

Tarrawarra "Riorret" Pinot Noir 2008 (made by De Bortoli)
Group Wine Of Flight - My wine of flight. Sourced from the Yarra Valley. Light burgundy in colour. A lovely light nose with strawberries at first, then faint mocha, roast meat,and charry elements with airing. The palate light-medium in weight and smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom.Very good wine that desperately needs 5 years + in a cellar.

Cups Estate Pinot Noir 2010
I brought this. It'd been open about 30 hours, so perhaps looking a little tired. It garnered no votes for wine of flight. A darker burgundy colour, with coffee/mocha notes, pepper and toasty oak, spice and cinnamon, and soy. Some green notes.

Argyle Reserve Pinot Noir 2006
From the Willamette Valley in Washington, USA. Similar colour to the Cups Estate. Lovely sweet, dry earthy aromas, and mint, surrounded by some subtle oak-derived savoury elements. The palate here a little up-front, with a proper splash of flavour in the back-palate.

Two options wines from Mark:

Wendouree Shiraz 1997
Bitumen notes. Dark red fruits. Meaty tannins. A wine unto itself, certainly, in the Australian context based on this showing. Eucalyptus notes. This bottle makes me finally understand the fuss over Wendouree. Very unique Aussie wine.

Penfolds RWT Shiraz 1997
I was throwing guesses left, right, and centre on this option wine, but I do recall detecting what I usually refer to as "Pennies Oak" fairly early on, but then I was lost after that...
Sweet caramel and mint notes. Big tannins. I thought this might have been ever so slightly corked. It was debatable as to whether it was borderline corked. You couldn't always detect it, and could certainly still enjoy the wine despite it.

Finally, a couple of younger reds:

Kalleske Greenock Shiraz 2003
Vibrant dark claret colour, that you can't see through. Ever so slightly leaf-edged, and waxy. A little warm. Big ripe Barossa. not really my kettle of fish.


Very dark cherry colour. Heavier caramel notes here. Ripe, sweet dark fruit. Prune perhaps. Leafy notes. Soupy and rich. Again, not my style, personally, but if I had to chose between these two, the Gibson stood out for mine, with more depth to the fruit. Might have been 14.5% alc ?

Following all of this were a raft of fortifieds, that I really just sipped and enjoyed, and took no notes on other than the Lindemans Reserve Old Liqueur Muscat (1982 bottling), which tawny brown in colour, faintly spiritous, and not unctious.

A pretty epic lineup of both food and wine this day, which is the norm for this group rather than the exception. Good times !

Thank you everyone for your generous contributions !

Cf

[daz]

If you don't mind slumming it, for <$20 Tim Adams Clare Valley Riesling 2010 is pretty good, 94pts from Gary Walsh at TWF. Also recommend Bests Great Western Riesling 2011 for a mouthfilling, fruit-driven, definitively varietal riesling. It has enough acid for me though I've seen a comment from someone who thought it could use a bit more. Definitely a departure from the mainstream Aussie riesling style, it took a few bottles for me to come to terms with it but am now rapt.

Cheers

daz

[TiggerK]

Hi all,

better late than never eh!! Been trying to get this finished for months, so finally here are a few notes and general impressions of the event at our place back in February.....

So after the mission of cleaning out the back room (normally my IT packed office), and having done my bit of cooking, it was nice to relax a little and let my wonderful wife Michelle do most of the work for the rest of day/night while I concentrated on the wines and company! (Mind you I was allocated spittoon emptying duties).

We started with some Clover Hill Sparkling 2007. I had also bought some Mumm NV, but was so happy I chose to open this instead. It was really clean, fresh and quite delicious. Great aperitif and I'd happily drink this over most sub $50 NV Champagnes. A few also enjoyed a Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, a very nice beer indeed. OK so onto the wines, we started in real style with the Steingartens, some notes are from (now fading) memory, others are just as I wrote on the night.

(Votes for WOTF per person are in brackets, a + indicates strong secondary sentimental voting). My score/100 is based half on what I feel the quality is like, and half on my pure enjoyment factor!! So take with large grain of sea salt, mainly provided to give an idea of relative quality.

Flight 1 - A really memorable flight of excellent wines - thanks to Cam.
2001 Orlando Steingarten Riesling (4) - While I enjoyed the overall class of the 02, this was my personal pick of the flight. Bit of aged character, but complex with floral, fresh, juicy limes and citrus zest. So young, easily 10 more years ahead. Left a delicious smell in the glass afterwards too, which is always a very good sign IMHO. 94
2002 Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling (6 - WOTF) - Classic high quality Aussie medium aged Riesling. Proper length and an elegant balanced mouthfeel, tiny hint of kero adding nicely to that continuing Steingarten citrus house style. 94
2003 Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling (2) - More rounded, perhaps a bit less elegance compared to the 01 & 02, but still really solid flavours, house style evident here. 91
2005 Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling (1) - Showing much younger, bit more lemon pith, hint of bitterness that I see with a few 05's. Needs time and should be very good. 89


Flight 2 - Interesting Aussies
2004 Jim Barry 'Florita' Riesling (8 - WOTF) - Bit peachy, typically Aussie, medium length, bit more tropical but still varietal. Rather good indeed. 92
2005 Trevor Jones Reserve Riesling (5) - Steely, young, again a hint of that tangyfruit bitterness I seem to get on the finish of 05's at the moment. But good quality overall. 90
2004 Rockford Hand Picked Eden Valley Riesling (0) - Less intensity on the nose & palate, but still very drinkable. Interesting and different, but I found it a bit awkward on the palate. 88


Flight 3 - Brief World Riesling Tour
2008 Ch. Ste. Michelle 'Eroica' Dr. Loosen Riesling (9 - WOTF) - Slight sweetness now obvious after the dry Aussies, more lush and voluptuous but balanced with soft citrus and good length. Very Nice. 92
2009 Domaine Ostertag Vignoble d'E Riesling (1) - More lush mandarin/nectarine/pear tropical sweetness, the flow could be better, but more time may evolve some elegance. 89
2007 Stift Goettweig Silberbichl DAC Reserve Riesling (3+) - Less sweetness and an interesting, hard for me to describe palate. Better balance, just not grabbing my attention. 89
2010 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (0+) - Instantly more acid and clean fresh style, less sweetness is the obvious style change here. Hidden quality but needs time to show what it's capable of. 90


Flight 4 - Mmmmm, Bit of Age
2001 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (6) - still youthful, with hints of minerality along with that everpresent acidity, nice long finish. Great now, but more time will help. 93
1994 Taylors St Andrews Riesling (7 - WOTF) - Lovely aged nose, reminded me a bit of the star of our first event (Petaluma 90). Close to or at it's peak. 94


Flight 5 - my flight, so a bit biased, although I had only tried the two Auburns previously.
2011 Auburn Alexandra Riesling (2+) - The nose is full of interesting white flowers and subtle complex tropicality. The palate is even more restrained, much lower res.sug. than the following wines, makes it more attractive to some, less to others. Easy to ponder over. 91
2011 Auburn Bendigo Riesling (2) - I was very impressed when tasting this with Max in Queenstown, and it's just as good now. I love how the sweet orange and stonefruit is carried so well to the long finish on a moreish river of bright acidity. Love it, and to me nowhere near the sweetness of the Felton, although higher gm/l on paper. 93
2011 Mount Edwards Drumlin Riesling (2) - Pretty wine, hint of spice and quite sweet, a classy touch with structure and balance. 91
2011 Felton Road Block 1 Riesling (7 - WOTF) - Others thought the balance was wonderful, but like the 2009 tried last year, I found the sweetness overpowered any freshness it had. Certainly packed full of flavour, I just couldn't get past the odd sensation of undissolved sugar flowing through my mouth. 90


Flight 6 - Germans Old & New.
2007 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreick Riesling Auslese (7 - WOTF) - Such power and class in the Prum wines. Had been decanted a few hours, and it really needed it. Good balance. 91
2007 Reinhold Haart Piesport Domherr Riesling Spatlese (3) - No notes for this sorry.
1990 Langwerth Von Simmern, Hattenheimer Mannberg, Spatlese Trocken (1 - Me!) - (this was the actual wine Shannon brought, not the Kabinett). I enjoyed this, that classy old German nose, hints of spice and jersey caramel with good balance. Fading a touch perhaps, but nice. 92
1975 Hof Sonneck, Johannisberger Holle Auslese - Really youthful for a 1975! Such character! (is all I wrote..) 92

So out comes the reds....

Random Flight 1
2008 Riorret The Abbey Pinot Noir, Yarra (7 - WOTF) - Very good indeed, lovely savoury notes, long & gentle finish with brooding power. Yes. 94
2010 The Cups Estate Pinot Noir, Mornington (0) - Not bad, but perhaps fruit was a bit overripe, plus looked big after the refined Abbey. 89
2006 Argyle Reserve Pinot Noir, Williamette Valley (4) - Very popular with a few, and fair enough, notable taste of strawberries and cream! 91


Random Flight 2 (Mark A.S. Options)
1997 Wendouree Shiraz - Top stuff. Quite strong mint notes, but a lovely ripe and spicy mouthfeel, plenty of fine tannins and length. Yum. 94
1997 Penfolds RWT Shiraz - Bit musty to start, more oak in typical Penfolds style, but a real surprise overall as had never really 'got' RWT until this. Travelling well, plenty of years yet. 92

Random Flight 3
2003 Kalleske Greenock Shiraz - Big, bold and a bit hot for my liking. 86
2002 Gibson Barossa Vale Shiraz - Much more enjoyable, but still a massive brooding monster. Needs time. 90


Random Flight 4
Lindemans Old Reserve Liquer Muscat (1982 bottling?) - Mmm, stickies... Big, Caramelly, bit hot on the finish, but very good.
Stanton and Kileen Classic Topaque 12 Yrs - Somehow didn't do much for me, can't remember why, probably just too much alc at this time of night.
Seppelt 2006 Fortified Shiraz Touriga - Cleanskin bottle, port, phew 8 hrs of wine, where's my bed.......

Great event, see you all next year for Summer of Riesling 2013, same Riesling-Time, Same Riesling-Channel !

Dave nailed the photos, so just two more pics....

Cheers
Tim

[Mahmoud Ali]

Great notes everybody, thanks for posting.

Mahmoud.

[Michael McNally]

Dave,

What a great tasting - excellent notes and equally excellent photos. The whole tasting looked very well put together - a class act - a bugger that we don't have something like that locally here. Hopefully this sort of thing encourages people to get out there and explore all of the diverse personalities of Riesling.

How are Oz off-dry Rieslings perceived at the moment? Would be an interesting compare to include in a future tasting, perhaps juxtaposed by some Kiwi drier styles alongside the Aussie ones.

And kudos to the organizer for sourcing wines from NZ's undisputed best region for Riesling...

Cheers,

Hi Maximus

Where have you been? Seems like a long time since I have seen that Russel Crowe avatar!

Cheers

Michael