The Auswine Forum

Mike Hawkins wrote:St Hallet Old Block Shiraz - beautiful nose- fresh garden, strawberry and chocolate. Velvety palate with reasonable length. This wont get better but should hold.

Rockford SVS Flaxman Shiraz - an even better nose, and slightly fuller body & greater length than the Old Block. Very good wine that seems to have some years left.

Thanks Mike.

I have both these wines but the Old Block in greater numbers. Will polish them off.

Loved that drive down Krondorf Rd in the late 90's buying up BP and coming up to St Hallet's on return and saying why not? Another six pack in the back of the car and I recall the Old Block of 96 being the last that was well priced before a little excess commercialism took over at the winery in my opinion. Incidentally, I've had a lot of corked OB, graciously replaced by the winery.

Haven't had these yet, but they are in tonight's fortified tasting.

Bracket 1
Fino - Romate Fino ‘Marismeño’
Manzanilla - DZ Manzanilla ‘La Goya’
Manzanilla Pasada - DZ Manzanilla ‘La Goya XL’ En Rama

Bracket 2
Cream Sherry - Romante Iberia Cream
Verdelho Madeira - Henriques & Henriques 10yo Verdelho
White Port - Niepoort Dry White

Bracket 3
Sercial Madeira - Henriques & Henriques 10yo Dry Sercial
Boal Madeira - Henriques & Henriques 10yo Bual
Malmsey Madeira - Henriques & Henriques 10yo Malvasia

Plus a Domaine Jolly Ferriol Or du Temps Muscat de Rivesaltes

Several new experiences await...

Ok, I am actually drinking this as we speak
Just thought I should clarify that first
A cheap quaffer picked up at auction for about 12 bucks I think
Prominent hill! single vineyard! Adelaide hills, chardonnay, 2008
I'm liking it
Creamy vanilla and custard tart, lacking any acidity but not in a negative way, everything is sitting in place rather nicely.
Seems low alcohol but was surprised to see it 13.5%
Short finish.
I love I when you get a cheapie and it really out does your expectations, really enjoying this.
The missus thought it was a bit too sweet, but I have handed her sweeter wines she hasn't mentioned the sweetness on so I take her opinion with a grain of salt

But Bob, are you actually swirling it in your mouth while typing? Otherwise it doesn't count and should go in a different thread

(either the "What I have in my glass in front of my that I drank a moment ago" thread or the "What I drank earlier when I wasn't at my PC and think I can recall or maybe am transcribing scribbled notes from a post it or beer mat")

Now, now, gentleman. Settle down please.....

Nothing special here tonight.

Chilling in Darwin quaffing a few sly bottles of Metala 2010. Good cheap gear.
In fact I'm not sure I know of a better value for money wine. $17 a bottle. Might stock up a few more before I head back to Alice.

JamieBahrain wrote:

Mike Hawkins wrote:St Hallet Old Block Shiraz - beautiful nose- fresh garden, strawberry and chocolate. Velvety palate with reasonable length. This wont get better but should hold.

Rockford SVS Flaxman Shiraz - an even better nose, and slightly fuller body & greater length than the Old Block. Very good wine that seems to have some years left.

Thanks Mike.

I have both these wines but the Old Block in greater numbers. Will polish them off.

Loved that drive down Krondorf Rd in the late 90's buying up BP and coming up to St Hallet's on return and saying why not? Another six pack in the back of the car and I recall the Old Block of 96 being the last that was well priced before a little excess commercialism took over at the winery in my opinion. Incidentally, I've had a lot of corked OB, graciously replaced by the winery.

That drive sounds very familiar Jamie ! I always had to make time to squeeze in a quick visit to Charlie Melton as well.

The OB was the first from the case and those I drank it with raved about it. I plan to open another one soon.

2011 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Shiraz - so much balance, symmetry and elegance - beautiful fruit. Good food wine - medium bodied and lovely oak.

2010 Flowstone Cab Sav Touriga

Nice wine. Very margarwt River Cab on the nose. Lovely hit of cabernet style fruit on the palate and then the bit of touriga just seems to flesh it out a bit and give it a hint of spice. Lovely balance and structure, very plentiful fine tannins. Medium to long finish. Quite enjoying it.

after a tough, and alcohol-free week, celebrated my return home by cracking a bottle of:
2002 Domaine de Lambrays Clos Des Lambrays
gee, the 02's are in a good spot at the moment, certainly the PC's and Village wines are really shining. Soaring nose of violets, red fruits and anise, the palate is a compote of red and dark cherries, sweet but restrained, and held in check by silky tannins. A very voluptuous wine, beautiful peacock's tail finish. Might improve a little from here, but just perfect right now.
94pts drink: now-2020.

odyssey wrote:

daz wrote:That is not NOW.

TNs other than at the moment should be posted in a separate individual item or a monthly or weekly compendium.

deejay81 » Wed Apr 15, 2015 9:35 am

Chuck » Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:54 am

Mike Hawkins » Mon Apr 20, 2015 9:24 am

Scotty vino » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:45 am

Ticker Wine Studios >> Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:20 am

Luke W » Sat Apr 25, 2015 6:42 am

Mike Hawkins » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:27 am

Chuck » Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:25 am

Scotty vino » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:45 am


Some may be o/seas, but pretty sure not all of them are... so unfortunately it looks like you were the lucky one to cop the ire, Mr Builder.

It seemed to me that the weekly drinking thread disappeared after Gavin developed this one. I agree tapping as you taste is a little inconvenient and downright dangerous when the state of mind is considered.

Anyway who said I wasn't drinking at 10.30am? Doesn't everyone?

Carl

First time commenting in this thread.... You will have to excuse my simplistic approach to notes - still learning and enjoying doing so..

Opened the bottle last night and had half, now sitting back on the couch and about to start watching the football and reaching for the other half....

2012 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz
I'm surprised and delighted by this wine.. Definately not the most expensive in the cellar but potentially one of the best value!
Vibrant Purple in colour. Cherries and Strawberries on the nose. Light to medium bodied, spicy and acidic which settled over time in the glass to create a well balanced and enjoyable drop. The way it has developed the next day makes me think this has some solid cellaring opportunity.. Great Value.

timnit wrote:First time commenting in this thread.... You will have to excuse my simplistic approach to notes - still learning and enjoying doing so..

Opened the bottle last night and had half, now sitting back on the couch and about to start watching the football and reaching for the other half....

2012 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz
I'm surprised and delighted by this wine.. Definately not the most expensive in the cellar but potentially one of the best value!
Vibrant Purple in colour. Cherries and Strawberries on the nose. Light to medium bodied, spicy and acidic which settled over time in the glass to create a well balanced and enjoyable drop. The way it has developed the next day makes me think this has some solid cellaring opportunity.. Great Value.

Totally agree with your note. Seppelt Chalambar year on year is currently probably the best QPR Aussie wine on the market. If you like the 2012, make sure you buy some of the 2013. Even better IMHO. Looking forward to the 2013 release of the St Peter's ...

2013 Sons of Eden Marschall Shiraz
Got that vibrant purple-red that is the signature of these wines. Less nose than the Zephyrus usually has (no surprise there), but still savoury and inviting. Seamless supple fruit glides from front to back when the grip kicks in, clearing the palate and leaving it wanting another sip. Another brilliant VFM wine from SOE. Medium bodied and medium length but Excellent,

Pleased I have three more

Cheers

Michael

PS Yes, in the glass, right now as I post this.........

Wynns Cabernet Sauvignon 2002. Very, very good wine at its peak. Perfect example of a mature Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.

2004 Pewsey Vale Contours Riesling - this is a fantastic wine for the price and age at release. Drank superbly with Chinese food as it had just the tiniest hint of sweetness - kind of like lime cordial. At $25, you can't go wrong buying this label...

An a couple more 96s...

1996 Penfolds St Henri - really good wine, just coming to its peak and should hold for a decade or more. After a few oak monsters in recent weeks, this was a lovely, elegant change for the better. The last of the 'pre-RWT' ST Henri's.

1996 Henriot Enchanteleurs - at first this reeked of sherry and I was concerned it had aged too quickly. But with air, the nose was overly floral and strawberry dominant. Lovely mouthfeel, great length. I would put this Champagne just behind the big guns of the vintage (DP, Oeno, Krug etc etc). Probably drinking at or near its peak right now, but at the outrageous price it sells for in Oz, I guess not too many people would stump up for it domestically.

NV Champagne Duperrey

Again, another one of those cheap champagnes (not as cheap as Moutard).
Medium acid, not much on the nose, tiny amounts of yeastiness. The bubbles are fine.
Medium to short finish but ok overall.

Left in fridge with a stopper overnight.
Even less on the nose and less flavours all round, however it improved after warming up a bit.

Again, very typical house style champagne, nothing special.

Teusner Joshua 2014. Waiting for left over pork sausage pasta to reheat so I swirling between sentences.

Clear purple colour. Nose has dark fruit but I am getting more red fruit after each swirl (sentence). On the savoury side there is spice, cocoa and something dusty. Lots more spice on the palate and a savoury game character. Loving both! Medium acid to keep it all fresh and fine tannins that slowly build.

Time for dinner.

2012 Songlines Estate Maclaren Vale Shiraz - give it an aerate, a decant and a couple of hours and watch it disappear into the nite. Beautifully balanced, masses of black fruit, a nose full of confection and anise. Yumbo!

Seppelt Moyston Cab Merlot 2004 - drinking very well, with some room to move still

gifted a bottle of wine from a relative in Shanghai, and opened it to celebrate yet another return home Gotta drink 'em now, SZ is getting hot and will require beer rather than red from another four weeks on.
2009 Caymus Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon
this was my favourite from a tasting the other night, and my enthusiasm for the wine earned me a bottle!!!!
stacked and packed with dark cherries and cassis, in the Napa style, but this wine transcends the usual Cali cab by retaining remarkable structure and freshness. An absolute joy to drink, it really pushed all the right buttons for me. Might improve over the next 10 years, but it really depends on how you like to drink your cabernet. I found this very difficult to differentiate from multiple 2009 Bordeaux second growths, and IMO it compared favourably to both Montrose and Ducru, and smacked the pants off yet another weird bottle of 2009 Cos (avoid that wine if you can!!)
95pts, drink: now-2025

Cooked a Duck Ragu with Parmesan Polenta, needed a cup of red wine in it so used a 2012 Butchers Block Red (SGM).
Tasted very nice in the food and with the food as well.

Dark deep red and looking like it could start to brick but hasn't quite...
Red fruit, a bit of smoke, a bit of dark choc, tannins and oak very nicely integrated.

Really nice for $18 i think it was from the cellar door.

2002 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Coeur de Cuvée - Really like their entry level NV stuff, but this bottle was something extra-ordinary. Last tasted at the winery many years ago, it is still as fresh now as it was then. Blend of 80% chardonnay, 20% pinot noir. Beautifully balanced fruit, oak and acidity. Deep, rich, full-flavoured and incredibly complex. Long, powerful finish. If you want a champagne moment then grab a bottle of this. Drinkng well now but will last a decade or more. Spectacular!

Felix,

Yes, the best thing in China. Ice cold longneck beers for equivalent of one Aussie dollar. Good source of carbohydrates

yep, the hot weather has arrived, today very steamy..... just perfect for an ice cold Tsing Tao with pork

A Cliff Edge Shiraz by Mount Langi Ghiran 2012. For the $$$ (or £££ here) an utter bargain so back up the truck of you have any sense with this wine.

Lindemans 1990 Sesquicentenary Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (Magnum) 12.9%

Celebrating our 25th year in Adelaide and with my current employer we opened this. Frankly we were a little underwhelmed. It was very much alive with colour that was amazing for such an old wine, good acidity with oak and tannins fully integrated everything was there except fruit. And I think it never was unless this was a bad bottle but I don't think so. Going by the low alcohol I reckon it was picked too early. Perhaps in the style of early to mid 1980s Coonawarra cabernets picked too early ala Mildara Alexander which I think tipped the scales at a smidgen over 12%. Very long lived wines but nothing to live for.

Carl

Wynns Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - in good shape with plenty of life. Juicy red fruits and the telltale menthol backbone. Good length, mid-weight and very approachable.

2012 Saltram Barossa Shiraz A wine that was gifted to me by a frugal friend who was visiting me this afternoon. So I decided to share the gift. I haven't purchased much Barossa Shiraz recently, let alone drink it - however it might be time to re-visit the region. Despite reservations, was pleasantly suprised. Classic Barossa Shiraz, with everything in balance. For under $20, at 14% alc, bargain. Will easily go 5 or so years, but with a decent decant why wait.

2010 Kumeu river hunting hill Chardonnay
2013 Farr Rising Pinot
2011 Wendouree Shiraz