The Auswine Forum

Voting Records (disclaimer - voting takes place at the end of the evening.....)

WWOTN
Voyager - 1 (Ian)
Toolangi - 2 (Kellie, Michael)
Cloudy Bay - 3 (Nicole, Yasmin and Janine)
Grossett - 6 (Rens, Gerry, Alan, Perry, Luke, Nick)

RWOTN
Ballycroft SB Cab - 1 (Yasmin)
RSW - 1 (Michael)
La Testa - 2 (Gerry, Perry) sounds like a spicy chicken sauce...
Cornerstone - 2 (Nick, Ian)
Run Rig - 6 (Nicole, Kellie, Alan, Janine, Luke, Rens)

WOTN
Cloudy Bay - 1 (Yasmin)
RSW - 1 (Michael)
La Testa - 2 (Gerry, Perry)
Cornerstone - 2 (Nick, Ian)
Run Rig - 6 (Nicole, Kellie, Alan, Janine, Luke, Rens)

My notes from the night - they may differ somewhat to Mr McNally's:

12 of us gathered at my favourite restaurant in Brisbane – 85 Miskin Street. This converted Queenslander home in Toowong s a fabulous offline venue, and I was delighted when the Queensland offliners recommended this. The food was fabulous (a set menu, once Brent knew what wines we were showing) and the service was fabulous – new glasses for pretty much every wine. And we went through a few wines ……

We kicked off with a half glass of Majella Sparkling Shiraz 2008 (Coonawarra). Purple red, with a good bead. Spicy red berries and milk chocolate, and a reasonable length of finish, without being at all heavy. A nice opener.

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2014 (New Zealand). Typically tropical fruits, passionfruit dominant and some guava. There was a slight herbal tinge but I had trouble placing the herb – perhaps marjoram?

Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2002 (Clare Valley). I’ve had some hot and misses with aged Grossets, but this was on song. Yellow and onl somewhat developed, lemon-lime cordial, slight minerality, no kero and a good line of acid. No-one picked this as a 2002 – it is ageing well.

Toorangi Reserve Chardonnay 2002 (Yarra Valley). Made by Rick Kinnzbrunner of Giaconda fame, this was gold / orange tinged and obviously very developed. Caramel and choux pastry were the dominant characters, and for me (and some others) the wine was past it’s prime by a couple of years.

Voyager Estate Chardonnay 2007 (Margaret River). The opposite of the Toolangi; if anything this is too young. Straw yellow, and the usual MR characteristics of nectarine, honeydew melon, lightly grilled nuts and deftly handled oak. I wish I had kept some in a glass for another hour or so.

Then onto some reds, and yet another change of glassware …….

Domaine Humbert Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru Craipillot 2007 (Burgundy). Perfumed but delicate cherry nose. Some (welcome) earthiness and mushroom, dried oregano and chives. Medium bodied, and got better in the glass with time.

Giaconda Pinot Noir 2008 (Yarra Valley and Beechworth). An incredibly perfumed nose of red cherries and a little strawberry. Slight leather and earthiness on the palate, and very clean. Short to medium finish.

We then took a break to try some wines from Ballycroft (Barossa Valley) that Ian had sourced as new releases. All were from the 2012 vintage.

Ballycroft Old Oak Shiraz 2012: A big porty, plummy nose, and a glass staining wine. Too big for most of us. 15.3% alcohol.

Ballycroft Mataro Shiraz 2012: a 50/50 blend with an astonishing 36 months in American oak. Savoury and spicy, with licorice, dried herbs, a hint of gunpowder, dusty tannins, good fruit weight and blueberries. Medium to long finish.

Ballycroft Cabernet 2012: Unlike the other Ballycroft wines, this is from Langhorne Creek fruit. 15.8% alcohol is carefully concealed by mint, eucalypt, and mocha. There’s no obvious alcohol heat, abd for the table was arguably the best of the Ballycroft wines shown.

Ballycroft Small Berry American Oak Shiraz 2012: Big and obvious vanillan oak, sweet plummy fruit, big drying tannins, just too big and straightforward for most of us.

Ballycroft Small Berry French Oak Shiraz 2012: Better than the American Oak version, but still overripe porty and plummy fruit with huge tannins

Then onto some cabernets …..

Voyager Estate Cabernet Merlot 2004 (Margaret River): Capsicum, tomato leaf, cedar and herbs, blackberry and red berries, a good acid spine and a long finish. Not as good as the 1999 I had a couple of days ago, and I suspect this will age well even further. After 30 minutes, some tasters considered the tannins to have increased and the wine to be more peppery.

La Testa Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 (McLaren Vale): Licorice, blackberry, lifted fruit, good supporting oak, slightly herbal and for me a little less structured than the Voyager, but more glossy and elegant. A very good wine.

Baron De Chirel Rioja Riserva 2005 (Spain)”: Earthy with red berries and especially raspberry, grippy fine tannins. Soft but with length. Interesting.

Then, onto what these Queenslanders seem to like best – big Barossa reds 

Greenock Creek ‘Creek Block’ Shiraz 2001 (Barossa Valley): Decanted 29 hours before service. HUGE plummy fruit and very porty, a dusty nose with licorice. This was like drinking a shiraz syrup, and polarised the table accordingly.

Greenock Creek Grenache 2002 (Barossa Valley): I’m not a huge fan of Grenache generally, but I coukld understand why this wine had some support. This is lollywater Grenache but concentrated and with some structure. It’s not overly confection-like (as many Grenache wines can be) and had strong supporting tannins and savoury counterpoints.

Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2002 (Barossa Valley): Perfumed nose (maybe a touch of viognier?). Savoury oak, almond meal, but so totally balanced that it was difficult to pluck out individual characters. We did get some mocha and cedar. The wine has a long and linear finish, and overall showed elegance with power. Fabulous.

Wirra Wirra RSW Shiraz 1998: This took a while to open up, with initially a muted savoury nose. There’s pepper, aniseed and cloves, with the fruit only making an appearance on the palate (but it was good when it did!). A long finish to a good wine.

Just to confuse our palates further, we finished with a Maxwell Vintage Port 1980 (McLaren Vale). According to the label, a ruby port made from Cabernet Sauvignon, it was big, spirity, raisin-like but not overpowering. A little simple perhaps but interesting for its age nonetheless.

White of the night was the Grosset Riesling 2002, while red and wine of the night was the Torbreck Run Rig 2002. Must have been a good year …..

My thanks to Gerry for organising the event, and it was a delight to meet a bunch of Queenslanders who really get into their wines. As a footnote, I asked the question partway through the night about why no Queensland wines had been brought, and why they drank predominantly South Australian. I’ll leave the answers to the Queenslanders, if they choose to publish ........

Cheers
Allan

Thanks gents, looks like a class lineup. Sounds like a good night. I think I need to get to 85 miskin to see what the fuss is about.

Sounds like a good night.

Re Ballycroft, I have been umming and ahhing about them, so it's good to see some real world notes on the wines. Sound big!!

Re Runrig, doesn't it always have Viognier in it? 3%-5% usually from memory.

I've had a few 02 Toolangi and I swear there is something not quite right about them. They seem too stripped for their age. I've tried 08 and I think it was 05 and they were fine.

Thanks for the notes.

I dont think Brisbane has many other byo friendly places anymore apart from Cinco on the Southside and Holloway at West End

Wonderful night, great company and some fantastic wines - thanks to everyone especially Gerry for organising.

The food and service at 85 Miskin was superb as usual, I think we all came to the conclusion that why do we ever go anywhere else.

Yes I love my Grenache, have sent a request to Greenock Creek to join their list this morning - thx Ian

It was another wonderful evening spent with fellow wine enthusiasts. The food at Brent's was to say the least, exceptional. I also vote for just going there from now on. Service was exemplary and the glassware was great as well. For all the wines we drank there was never a shortage of clean glasses. Many thanks to all who attended for their generosity in bringing these amazing wines.

My take on them is different to both Michael and Allan's. But that is why wine is such a wonderful thing, we all have different tastes. I didn't take notes and these are just from memory.

2008 Majella Sparkling Shiraz. Very nice way to start the evening. I found it a little dry and not quite enough sweetness. Janine enjoyed it though and SS is her cup of tea. 3/5

2002 Toolangi Reserve Chardonnay. I was very much looking forward to this as Luke has told me about it and I thought it would be right up my alley. Sadly I was not that impressed with it. I thought it may have been just a tad oxidised. Having said that, I could very much see what Luke was telling me. It would have been a fine wine a few years ago. 2.5/5

2002 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling. This to me was quite fresh for a 13 year old Riesling - screwcap perhaps? Nice to drink and will only get better as I thought it was in a slightly dumb phase and wasn't showing enough. Will be stunning in say, another 10 years. 3.5/5

2014 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Not my thing at all. My wife made the comment that the nose was like a West Coast Cooler. Lots of passionfruit and not much else. 2/5

2007 Voyager Estate Chardonnay. This was my pick of the WWOTN by a mile. I sat on a glass for an hour and it only got better. Still young but the balance between oak and fruit is exceptional. Just how I like my Chardonnay. Will be good for several more years yet. 4/5

2007 Domaine Hubert Gevry Chambertin Premier Cru Craipillot. Barnyard and funky on the nose but it soon blows off. Herbal, cherries and red fruit abound. Not my thing but after a while I thought it outshone the Giaconda. 3.5/5

2008 Giaconda Pinot Noir. Wonderful nose but the palate was way too short. 3/5

2012 Ballycroft Old Oak Shiraz. A bit to much even for me. Didn't help the cause coming after the Pinots. Lots of chocolate and alcohol pokes it's head a little. 2.5/5

2012 Ballycroft Mataro Shiraz. This was much smoother. Some spice, dark fruits and oak poking through a bit. 3/5

2012 Ballycroft Cabernet. My pick of the Ballycroft's (as it was with the 2010's). Nice texture and some mint, and camphor on the nose along with dark fruits. Sweet oak then takes over a little and needs time. Should be a very good wine with a spell in the cellar. 3.5/5

2012 Ballycroft SBS American Oak Shiraz. A bit whack of biscuity, coconut and vanillan oak. It was said it was a cuddly wine and I can see where that came from. Once again, it needs time. 3/5

2012 Ballycroft SBS French Oak Shiraz. I quite liked this as well. Seems to be a theme with the French Oak. It to me was a bit smoother than the American Oak and the tannins seem to be finer. As above, it needs a good sleep. 3.5/5

The Ballycroft wines are all quite big and have only recently been bottled. If you like the big fruity Barossa style they will be attractive, very attractive. If not then look elsewhere. Many thanks to Joe Evans for kindly donating the wines for us to try. I probably didn't decant them for long enough as I got called into work on the day. They were decanted at 3pm and poured straight back into the bottle. They certainly would have benefitted from much more air.

2004 Voyager Estate Cabernet Merlot. Probably didn't show it's best from being popped and poured. Seemed quite closed and didn't offer up much on the nose. A few that kept some in a glass said it started to open up nicely. Having said that, I think this wine has a very good future. Slippery tannins and good balance, though I thought it was a slight bit astringent. 3.5/5

2002 La Testa Cabernet. A massive hit of liquorice on the nose that was almost overpowering. I had plenty of the 2000 vintage of this and I can't remember it having as much aniseed. I do like some but this was almost too much. A brute of a wine and had great length. Will live for years on this showing. 3.5/5

2005 Marques de Riscal Baron de Chirel Rioja Riserva. This was very, very good. A bit of leather, red fruit and slippery tannins. Cherries and cola (as Michael said) on the palate and I really enjoyed this. In my top 3 for the night. 4.5/5

2001 Greenock Creek Creek Block Shiraz. I Honestly don't know what to make of this wine. I was so looking forward to drinking it but was left a bit perplexed. It was like concentrated Shiraz, almost syrupy. It coated the glass and had quite a viscous texture. It was almost like port. One has to remember this was a 100 point RPJ wine. I'm not sure if age will do anything to improve it either, but I'll leave that to better judges than me. I did keep some in a glass for about an hour and it didn't budge at all. Disappointment is maybe a bit harsh but I expected a different type of wine if I'm being honest. 2.5/5

2002 Greenock Creek Cornerstone Grenache. Who said Barossa Grenache doesn't age? This was wonderful. Just the right amount of sweetness and with red fruits, Turkish delight and strawberries on the nose and palate. Should hold for a few years yet quite easily. 4.5/5 and my RWOTN and WOTN.

2002 Torbreck Run Rig. I didn't detect the viogner component in this at all. The nose was powerful without being overpowering and the palate was slippery smooth. Balance was good and I could drink lots of this. 4/5

1998 Wirra Wirra RSW Shiraz. Another wonderful wine. Just at the point where I like my wine to be. Showing aged characteristics but still with enough fruit to keep it interesting. Stunning and in my top 3 on the night. 4.5/5

Many Thanks for Gerry for organising and Brent's for the hospitality. Thanks to Allan attending all the way from WA and Luke for coming from Yeppoon. I so enjoy the banter about the wines and always feel like I leave just that bit more educated. I probably shouldn't have went for those few beers afterwards as I was a little dusty the next day and my golf certainly suffered! Bring on the next Brisbane offline!

Cheers
Ian

A great night. The food was awesome. I wish some one could explain to me how you can debone a chicken wing as perfectly as I saw on Friday...
The wines were as good as the company. The Grosset was outstanding. I was lucky enough to have it a few years back at Gerry's place and it has not budged-outstanding.
The Run Rig was a surprise given past experiences with this wine. It was also excellent.
I loved the Baron (but then I'm Biased). It had length to burn and I'm glad so many people like what they had in their glass-perhaps an Iberian theme next time
Thanks again everyone. So looking forward to the next instalment.