Sunday again...

[Sean O'Sullivan]

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[Sean O'Sullivan]

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[Loztralia]

A few bits and pieces over the weekend and just a couple of thoughts:

2005 Wandin Valley Bridie's Reserve Shiraz: Pleasantly surprised by this. A bit more fruit-driven than your classic Hunter Shiraz but still with characteristic spiciness. I actually thought this might go a few more years.

2007 Piggs Peake House of Bricks Cabernet Sauvignon: Not quite sure what to make of this. Ridiculously high alcohol (16%) but wears it ok and actually very drinkable.

2005 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon: Lovely. Drinking beautifully but I suspect it could go for years, which is a pain in the arse as I only have one bottle. Grr.

2007 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon: Much less impressed. Seemed a bit weedy and thin. May not have been ideal circumstances to try it and I've seen good reviews elsewhere so I will give it another go based on my disappointment at missing the 05, but this wasn't an amazing introduction.

[Rawshack]

I'm extremely jealous of having easy access to that range at those prices Peter.

Mind you, with Hoddles Creek, Delatite and Tahbilk here in Victoria as consistently over-delivering QPR wineries, we'll get by somehow!

I do love Delatite - everytime I go to Mansfield I drop by; their Sylvia Riesling is a lovely wine, for peanuts.

Nice new cellar door they've opened up in the town as well

[Rawshack]

2003 David Traeger Shiraz - I have drunk three bottles of this wine since I opened the first one last Saturday and all of them have been good, though I've noticed some variation in terms of development, which is unsurprising because this is under cork. It still has good purpley colour with charry oak and spicy aromas, but has mellowed and softened, one had a more earthy bottle-aged character and the other two having obvious herbs, licorice and brambly fruit giving a very pleasant freshness to the palate, nicely balanced by the persistent tannins on the finish.

Is David Traeger actually still making his own wine? I know he sold to that mob on the Penninsula, but wasn't sure what the story was now

Really liked his Verdhello (sp), another good drop for low sums. I remember reading that Jancis was loving it as well.

[Sean O'Sullivan]

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[n4sir]

Pity about the Schild wines Ian. But were there any standouts at the bbq?

Cheers

daz

The standout red was the 94 Fleurieu shiraz magnum (a blend of contributions from Chapel Hill, Merrivale, Seaview, Wirra Wirra & Woodstock put together by Pam Dunsford in 1996 to build/fund the visitor centre). Not a heavyweight by any means, but complex and really well balanced, which is a lot more than you could say about most of the rest - very handy for it to be a magnum too, as I think everybody came back for seconds, thirds... The Liebich 20 YO Frontignac was the other major highlight, and the half bottle disappeared very quickly.

This bottle of 98 Dead Arm had shaken off the oak (for once) - it was very earthy/muddy but still young in comparison to the other 90s era wines at the picnic. That said, it looks fairly simple without the oak - maybe it wasn't a great bottle, but it certainly didn't look like a major step up on the humble Footbolt of the same vintage. Likewise the 97 Riddoch had shaken off the oak to reveal a rather simple, green wine - nothing bad about it, but definitely not a great JR. For that matter all the 03s on offer were a good demonstration why it's considered a lesser vintage too.

The 98 WDC Vat 1 was interesting, a little on the funky side but good drinking, the 05 St Jakobi & 99 Burge MSJ4 were good too. The 01 Phoenix grenache & Giaconda pinot were popular even though I thought they were pretty ordinary. There were a couple of shockers too - the 98 Fox Creek reserve cab & 96 Haselgrove were badly oxidised (I wish people would check their wines prior to coming), the 03 Fox Creek reeked of volatility and the 99 Burramurra was very tired with weird coriander characters and a dried out finish.

Cheers,
Ian