The Auswine Forum

John #11 wrote:

Daryl Douglas wrote:John#11, surprised you didn't mention the vanillin american oak, not that I find it a detractor. I've come to prefer MP cab over the shiraz, had my last bottles of shiraz 07 and cab 06 recently. The first case of cab 07 didn't last long. Although it's still listed on their site, it's probably about time I emailed Judy to send the case I asked be held for me.

Cheers

daz

To be perfectly honest, I thought the oak was well integrated, and very much in the background. After the black-currant-a-thon it sure tasted nice anyway!


currently enjoying a 2007 O'leary Walker Shiraz (Clare / Mclaren Vale) and for a sub $20 wine, this is one serious shiraz, gobs of ripe fruit, plums, black olives, good balance with crisp acid and velvety oak and gripping tannins, and a sensational long finish. Very young, but huge promise here, 2007 in Clare was a mighty vintage, and Mclaren Vale produced nice fruit as well.
Great qpr.
I'd give it 92/100 now, maybe more in 5 years.

Cheers

John

I agree that the oak in the MP cab is well-integrated, actually think it enhances the fruit and have posted a TN or two mentioning that after the first taste or two, it mostly fades into the background. I just consider it a feature of the wine that adds interest.

Having had a few bottles of O'Leary/Walker Shiraz 05(I think), I have to agree it's a very good value wine. I sort of align it with Tin Shed Melting Pot Shiraz in the qpr stakes.

Cheers

daz

Tasting of Zema Estate wines, 2004 family selection, and 2005 zema estate.

All of these wines finished with liquorice, and for me, liquorice was the dominant note.

The best of the wines, for me, was the Zema Estate 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a wine for the long haul, drinking well now, but with great backbone and persistent tannins.

The family selection shiraz was also a good wine, but was not going to get any better.

The standard Zema Estate wines from 2005 were sweet, and a bit light on for my taste.

These wines are not oaky.

They are honest wines, good, but not great.

D'arry's Original Shiraz Grenache 2004
Year after year, this demonstrates impressive quality and this one is no different, all upfront blueberries, liquor macerated cherries, liquorice, boiled lollies and grindings of black pepper, with a lovely, equally vibrant palate, bolted together with chalky tannins and a finish of impressive length and snappiness. Lighter and more nimble than our bog-standard McV wine, I like this quite a lot and it's excellent value to boot.

Zema cab 04 is a very good+, honest Coona cab. I've not tried/bought the Family Selection shiraz but the ZFS cab 04 is a sleeper, didn't impress much just after release, too closed, but it improved over a couple of days. I'm holding a bottle or two to try it again about 2012.

Cheers

daz

2005 S.A. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett
AP 25765100906. Pale gold with green glints. Green apples and earth with whiffs of petrol. Palate of spritzy weighty fruit with a tangy finish. Soft acids. Good wine.

cheers

Carl

Finished off the 2004 Flying Fish Cove Shiraz. Look, this wine was no better, but after 2 days, still had good fruit flavours, and persistence. Surprisingly so actually...

Cheers,

Monghead.

St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 06. Barossa shiraz at it's best. It's screwcapped but has already thrown substantial crust. The fruit devours the oak, deep blackberry throughout but there is a touch of vanillin oak on the lengthy finish. It's big, it's outrageous, but a bloody good wine, deserves the plaudits it's received. Food? Maybe a strong gouda or parmigiano with ciabatta, some water to refresh the palate.

Hoddles Creek 2005 Pinot Noir
Drinking quite well, with chalky tannins and a grippy finish. Some earthy richness and perfume through the palate and it seems to have gained weight and substance over the last year or so. Not especially varietal to me, but a jolly fine drink.

Daryl Douglas wrote:St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 06. Barossa shiraz at it's best. It's screwcapped but has already thrown substantial crust. The fruit devours the oak, deep blackberry throughout but there is a touch of vanillin oak on the lengthy finish. It's big, it's outrageous, but a bloody good wine, deserves the plaudits it's received. Food? Maybe a strong gouda or parmigiano with ciabatta, some water to refresh the palate.

Hey Daz howdoes it compare to the 05 Blackwell I have some half bottles and ws going to leave another year before drinking

RegardsDazza

dazza1968 wrote:

Daryl Douglas wrote:St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 06. Barossa shiraz at it's best. It's screwcapped but has already thrown substantial crust. The fruit devours the oak, deep blackberry throughout but there is a touch of vanillin oak on the lengthy finish. It's big, it's outrageous, but a bloody good wine, deserves the plaudits it's received. Food? Maybe a strong gouda or parmigiano with ciabatta, some water to refresh the palate.

Hey Daz howdoes it compare to the 05 Blackwell I have some half bottles and ws going to leave another year before drinking

RegardsDazza

Sorry Dazza, I haven't any 05, nor tried it but suspect the half bottles would be fine to drink now but could develop more for another couple of years or more.

Cheers

daz

2 sauvignon blancs:

2007 Cullen Sav Blanc Semillon
Tight, austere, lovely acidity. Some grass, but not overtly so.

2008 E Tales Malborough Sav Blanc
Great floral nose, bursting delicious flavours, with delightful crisp finish.

To sum up, the Cullen SBS is a wine to "taste", whilst the E Tales is a wine to "drink"...

Cheers,

Monghead.

1996 Petaluma Coonawarra
Still a dark red with a lighter red rim. Touch of truffles and ribena with a lot of stencils. (I know now I am not allowed to suggest this may be a fault) An elegant palate with tannins taking a back seat now. Very good wine with marble 9+ Black angus and madeira sauce.

cheers

Carl

2005 Kilikanoon Shiraz ;Parable, Covenant & Testament.

Hard to split the first two, majority preferred the Parable (darker fruits), i think the Covanant shaded it (red fruits). I enjoyed the Testament although not everyone was as convinced.
Superfine tannins, and balance across the board.

Cracked open the 05 Oracle last weekend, knew it was early but had to. Superb, quite peppery which i wasn't expecting however still needs alot more time.

Has anyone tried the 06 vintage from Kilikanoon? I'd love to know if its anywhere near the 05....

2006 StarveDog Lane Shiraz Viognier
This wine won a couple of awards at the 2008 Royal Adelaide WIne Show, including the prestigious Max Schubert award.
Screwcap.
A little stink on opening, musty, perhaps a little reductive I thought. Took about 30 mins to clear, revealing Shiraz, violets, and burnt apricots ( )
The palate was really nice, cool climate shiraz, with cherry and plums, pepper, spices, and easily detectable apricot nuances, crisp, balanced, medium finish, with slippery tannins.
My only gripe is that the shiraz fruit seems to have faded quite a bit since release, leaving the apricotty viognier, and oaky tannins behind.

I have a few left, but I think its very much drink up time.
Still available in retail if you look around.
Good, but not great. 88/100

Cheers

John

Peter Lehmann Cabernet Sauvignon 2002
This is drinking brilliantly, with wafts of pepper, some herbal notes, liquorice and most notably, tons of blackcurrant and well furnished oak. The tannins have wilted away a bit and it's all very easy to drink. Tremendous stuff for a relatively humble label in the scheme of things.

2003 Peel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Ruby red with shiny purple hues that make it difficult to see to the bottom of the glass. Clear at the edges. Spicy with nice varietal fruit and toasty oak and a hint of chocolate on the nose.
Slightly closed initially with varietal fruit capsicum, nice acidity and chalky tannins. Medium length finish with violets and small berries. Medium boddied and will go another 5 years or so. Have seven so will drink one each year from now. 14

2001 Peel Estate Shiraz
Dark ink, purple (suprising) to rim. Supprising because the 1999 I had last week had faded at the edges. Just the look in the glass tells me it’s got a way to go. Vanilla, spicey fruit toasty oak, blackberry, plum, new leather on the nose. The palate mirrors the nose, concentrated++ firm yet integrated tannins nice elongated finish with the classic peel estate acidity on the last third of the palate.
In comparison to the 1999 which was showing a lot of secondary older port like flavours this is fresh-probably what the 1999 tasted like in 2001. Another decade easy perhaps two. 17

2006 Leasingham Bin 61 Shiraz
Dark red bordering on purple with varietal spice, red berry fruit on the nose. Blackberry and spice on the palate silky smooth tannins with a hint of toasty oak and a great balance. Good quaffer and will be so for 8-10 years simply because of the balance in the wine. 11

Also have the latest 2005 peel estate zinfadel (or old vine zinfadel as it is known now) will report on that one next week.

Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 2004

Where is my will-power?? Needs more time, of course.

At the moment, it is a powerful, iron back-boned wine, with very savoury and muscular tannins, and underneath it, blackberry, and I want to say it invokes gorse, bramble, thistle.

Nose of French oak (it seems to me) and dark, dark berry.

Brooding, powerful stuff, and great if you imagine its future.

Wynns Black Label 2006

Picked up a case of this recently and on reccomendations elsewhere on the web i thought i would i would open one to see how it was drinking young.

As i exepcted it was initially very closed for me. It did however open up after several hours of swirling and warming in the glass. Nice oak tones and berry fruits eventually but a short finnish and it is clear that it will benefit from several more years. Possibly returning to form of the late 90's but still too early to tell.

@ $18.90 in a six pack this week at DM i would reccomend this bottle even if only for quaffing in the short term but i am hoping it is a keeper. For that matter DM has begun their yearly celler release clearout and i picked up some good bargains this morning.

Cheers,

Tim

tcross wrote:Wynns Black Label 2006

Picked up a case of this recently and on reccomendations elsewhere on the web i thought i would i would open one to see how it was drinking young.

As i exepcted it was initially very closed for me. It did however open up after several hours of swirling and warming in the glass. Nice oak tones and berry fruits eventually but a short finnish and it is clear that it will benefit from several more years. Possibly returning to form of the late 90's but still too early to tell.

@ $18.90 in a six pack this week at DM i would reccomend this bottle even if only for quaffing in the short term but i am hoping it is a keeper. For that matter DM has begun their yearly celler release clearout and i picked up some good bargains this morning.

Cheers,

Tim

Picked up a six today. They had it open and at just under $20 a bottle and screwcapped I am putting this away and crossing my fingers. The bottle open for tasting today was definitely showing some of the characteristics you describe, though I wouldn't have said shortish. Definitely tight though.

Cheers

Michael