The Auswine Forum

Jordan wrote:Yep, I live in Canberra these days. Havent updated the profile for awhile..... let alone posted! I think this may be my return to the forum

Welcome back then!

cheers

Carl

So who can make it on the 26th August, then?

Bump.

I am keen for the 26th August

roger that. Will be able to make. What is the format? Are we doing dinner? nibbles? location? theme?

Thanks Jordan, Redstuff.

think dinner, everyone to Bring a good (masked) bottle? And I'm thinking Rubicon at Griffith Shops for 7.30 p.m.?

I need to hear from anyone else coming so I can book.

Paul Starr? Malliemcg?

Thanks Mr Lole. I should be good for myself + 1 for the 26th at Rubicon.

Count me in for Rubicon. Just me at this stage.

Booking confirmed for 6 (or thereabouts). Only one major change. Wine for the night will be on me for the pleasure of your good company.

i.e. I'll provide the wine and you pay for your food.

We have a booking for 6 (possibly 7) for 7.30 pm next Wednesday the 26th of August, 2009 at Rubicon Restaurant, Griffith, ACT.

PStarr +1
Malliemcg (possibly +1)
Jordan
Redstuff
dlo

Condition of entry - bring no wine, pay for food only.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

Good think I don't have to spend any time to make myself beautiful, I'm enjoying playing with my little one before this event

Great start to the Canberra group last night. Many thanks to dlo for the cracking wines. I'm still shaking my head at how French that 2002 Giaconda looked.

Notes please!? Blackboard is very impatient

cheers

Carl

I didn't want to steal dlo's thunder

Don't let me stop anyone from starting ... I won't have a chance to write much for a few days.

The list of the wines we drank for our first get together last night -

Dom Perignon 1995
Fritz Haag Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese Riesling (LGK) 1983
Giaconda Chardonnay 2002
Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1979
Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 1983
Kay Brothers Cabernet Shiraz 1971
Ch. Coutet 1983

I very much enjoyed the food at Rubicon. The service and quality of glassware was also first class.

We have agreed to meet once a month.

Jordan will be doing the next one.

Thanks to all for a very enjoyable night.

It was a great night with all wines being absolutely amazing. Many thanks to David for his generosity.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

Wow... a bl@@dy nice selection of wines. I think I may well move back to Canberra for the next tasting!

Phil Wilkins wrote:Wow... a bl@@dy nice selection of wines. I think I may well move back to Canberra for the next tasting!

And you'd be more than welcome to attend as a guest!

So guys. Stunning line-up. Any impressions on the individual wines? I am curious about the old German in particular.

cheers

Carl

griff wrote:So guys. Stunning line-up. Any impressions on the individual wines? I am curious about the old German in particular.

cheers

Carl

It was in very fine condition, Carl. Still only a light pale gold colour in the glass, the wine was quite thrilling on the palate - honeyed but fresh and light but ever so long in the mouth although, remarkably, quite viscous but beautifully counterbalanced by ample minerally-etched, refreshing acidity. The fruit seemed to be mostly nectarine, lime, peach, a flick of redcurrant with a light shroud of petroleum adding complexity. The only slight criticism I could muster was the nose lacked some intensity compared to other bottles I've opened. I gave it 93 points. It should live for quite some years yet!

dlo wrote:

griff wrote:So guys. Stunning line-up. Any impressions on the individual wines? I am curious about the old German in particular.

cheers

Carl

It was in very fine condition, Carl. Still only a light pale gold colour in the glass, the wine was quite thrilling on the palate - honeyed but fresh and light but ever so long in the mouth although, remarkably, quite viscous but beautifully counterbalanced by ample minerally-etched, refreshing acidity. The fruit seemed to be mostly nectarine, lime, peach, a flick of redcurrant with a light shroud of petroleum adding complexity. The only slight criticism I could muster was the nose lacked some intensity compared to other bottles I've opened. I gave it 93 points. It should live for quite some years yet!

Sounds lovely!

Thank you. I find it interesting to see how sweet wines age. Sugar is a wonderful preservative. Luckily it also tastes nice.

cheers

Carl

The Wines

Dom Perignon 1995
Fritz Haag Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese Riesling (LGK) 1983
Giaconda Chardonnay 2002
Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1979
Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 1983
Kay Brothers Cabernet Shiraz 1971
Ch. Coutet 1983

I thought the Dom Perignon (92 points) still tightly coiled and bursting with bright green apple fruit with touches of fig, hazelnut, baker's yeast, nuts and toast. Surprisingly fresh and vigorous in the mouth with a steely pinot spine. Lovely swirling mousse with terrific length as well as a haunting persistence well after swallowing. This wine has some way to go and could merit a score closer to 95 once fully mature in a decade or more. A bit of a sleeper, methinks.

The Fritz Haag revealed only a light pale gold colour in the glass, was quite thrilling on the palate - honeyed but fresh and light but ever so long in the mouth although, remarkably, quite viscous but beautifully counterbalanced by ample minerally-etched, refreshing acidity. The fruit seemed to be mostly nectarine, lime, peach, a flick of redcurrant with a light shroud of petroleum adding complexity. The only slight criticism I could muster was the nose lacked some intensity compared to other bottles I've opened. I gave it 93 points. It should live for quite some years yet!

The Giaconda (91 points) was extremely good showing a dazzling array of complex worked French barrel character as well an eerie saltiness (probably from the oak) that was evident in the bouquet as well as on the palate that Paul suggested directed him towards Chablis. The fruit was playing more of a backseat role throughout. The palate was slippery and refined without any heaviness or, seemimgly too much alcohol or grip from oak tannin. A nicely balanced chardonnay that should be drunk over the next few years. I don't have quite the same recollection of this particular wine except to say, perhaps I was expecting a fair bit more. Everyone thought it was French (apart from me, of course - I brought it).

The reds really excelled. The cork gods were kind to us. All three displayed a youthfulness that belied their considerable age. The 1979 G-P-L, always punches well above its weight was truly outstanding FWII, blessed with silky dark cherry and deep set blackcurrant fruit, a strong undercurrent of undergrowth, herbs and damp earth as well as a little of the Paulliac thumbprint of lead pencil. The palate's fully mature, delivers a silky, hedonistic and most elegant mouthful of superior flavour that suggests a very successful left bank producer from an extremely good year. Possessing a svelte structure with exemplary smooth tannins and some wonderful residual acidity this terrific claret finishes long and with admirable aplomb. 93 points. Drink now - 2015.

The 1983 Cape Mentelle was a couple of notches higher! My recent note (15/8/09) covers the bottle opened reasonably well - For a 26-year-old red this wine holds a remarkable deep impenetrable plummy red brown core, although there’s obvious age showing when tipping the glass and viewing the wine at a shallow depth. Aromatically, this stunner is a dead ringer for a top flight left banker. Rife with weedy blackcurrants, undergrowth, damp earth, minerals, iron and blood, the bouquet literally soars from the glass, totally belying its considerable age. Likewise, in the mouth, the wine displays remarkable freshness and vitality with a quite amazing residue of plummy, blackcurrant fruit, a big lick of cedary oak and a probing herbaceousness, lively acidity and stunning lacy tannins; all superbly meshed and remarkably delineated. The finish delivers the complete package - resolute, harmonious and with an uncanny, authoritative, lengthy carry, I can’t help but awarding this quite exceptional Cabernet, 95 points. Drink now - 2018. Utterly brilliant! I scored the wine the same and can vouch for the near accuracy of this note to what we drank on the night. The only noticeable difference/addition was a beguiling tobacco/cigar box character found in the bouquet and to a lesser extent on the palate.

The 1971 Kay Brothers Cabernet Shiraz was a revelation. I have opened three bottles of this in the past month and they been pretty much identical in every respect, including my rating of 93 points! For a wine approaching its 40th anniversary to be so intact, consistently good and not disintegrate upon opening, is, in itself, a wondrous thing. It's difficult at this rather late hour to recall the wealth of rich extract still present in this wine, but perhaps it's better not to try to dissect such a grand old wine into fragments. I'm pleased just to highlight the wonderful experience of slowly sniffing and sipping this small piece of Australian wine history with a group of fellow wine lovers gathered together for the first time in a unique ambiance.

The 1983 Coutet was excellent except it did not like being associated with the very rich, albeit delectable, ice cream served with the panacotta. I revisited it by itself after everyone had left and the wine was certainly far less bitter and sharp on the finish. This style of Barsac is the essence of elegance and delicacy in the Sauternes hierarchy and is not suited to such creamy decadence. The ice cream was fig with star anise and cinnamon something or other. In the end I awarded this very youthful example, 90 points. It should live for at least another two decades!

Wow, stellar line-up guys.

Not a wine under 90 points..... From a hard marker too...

Drool factor stuff...

Thanx.

Damn, I missed this thread. If I had seen it, I would have brought down the entire Eastern Suburb tasting group to join you.

rooman wrote:Damn, I missed this thread. If I had seen it, I would have brought down the entire Eastern Suburb tasting group to join you.

Canberra's much too small a place to cater for that many people visiting at one time. Wouldn't it be a good idea to send your members down in evenly-numbered staggered batches? Remember we meet on the third Saturday of each month at the Fyshwick Tavern at 8 pm sharp. No need to book, we've always got plenty of top shelf wine to share with our brothers and sisters from Old Sydney Town.

I lost my last lot of notes during upload, so brief comments second time around:

Dom Perignon 1995 - cracking, mixed aged characters with super-freshness. Intensity and clarity of flavour. Great start. Could make for session champagne...

Fritz Haag Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese Riesling (LGK) 1983 - first German riesling with this much age on it for me. On-again, off-again nose, but great palate. Lovely wine and good with the food.

Giaconda Chardonnay 2002 - the salty thing threw me here, thinking it was aged chablis (I am crap at options!). No way did this look like Australian chardonnay to me. Tasty and interesting.

Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1979 - looked a lot fresher than 30 year old, good complex Bourdeaux characters, and complemented the food well.

Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 1983 - Stunning. Best Australian cabernet I've had, by some margin. As good as the wine before was, this was a clear step better.

Kay Brothers Cabernet Shiraz 1971 - This also belied its age, and was both remarkably fresh and full of genuine interest. The cabernet and shiraz components had integrated seamlessly into a beautiful, fully resolved, aged wine. A privilege to drink.

Ch. Coutet 1983 - somewhat overshadowed by the two wines before it, but an interesting sauterne, with a lick of bitterness at the end to complement the marmalade and some VA profile of the wine.

Looking forward to another get together this month. Thanks to dlo for providing the first lot of wines.

Excellent notes, Paul. Thanks.

Jordan has returned from his raid on his Adelaide cellar and assembled the necessary bottles for our next gathering - to be held at Aubergine (Griffith Shops) on the 23rd of September commencing at 7.30 pm.

Unfortunately, malliemcg has decided to leave our little group of 6, so we have a vacancy. If you are interested in joining a very easy-going group of wine enthusiasts who meet once a month, you'll need to contact me by PM only.

Could the remaining members please confirm their attendance with Jordan, ASAP.

Don't forget - thinking caps on for that name, too.