Melbourne Offline: Coonawarra Cabernet V

[Benchmark]

Great night.

Polarising styles.

Coonawarra's were all classy and masculine.

Victorians a lot more elegant.

My picks were-

90 Bin920

92 John Riddoch

00 Mount Mary

[Benchmark]

I just wanted to throw out a huge thanks to Ozzie who does all the leg work for these things.

Best Gate Keeper in the business.

All your organisation is appreaciated.

[cuttlefish]

Sorry for the slight delay in getting the tasting notes up for this...I certainly overindulged, and suffered through Saturday a little, but with such a solid lineup of wines, I was loathe to spit too much out...and my tasting notes may have suffered for that, but here goes anyway...

I have to say, I really enjoyed the food at Bergerac, and the company and banter was top class. Very fun night, and thanks to everyone for their very generous wine contributions (as follows):

(We played double blind (?) wine options on all of these)

Arras BdB 2006
Lovely lifted aromatics on this. Ever so slightly tart fruit profile, but really very good. My equal highest pointed wine of the night at 18/20. Many picked this as old-world during the options.

Scotchmans Hill Cornelius Sauvignon 2011
Pretty good example of the style. Light and bright, and fine boned. Good drinking. 15/20

Willespie SSB 2005
Really herbal aromatics (Green beans/asparagus), and a smooth rounded palate. Drinking well for its age. 15/20

Lakes Folly Cabernet 2003
Light leafiness, permanent marker, dry earth, and with time more barnyardy earth aromas which tended towards overtness, but I found this very enjoyable drinking. 15/20

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1998
Fine brown rim, but still dark through the centre. Aromas of mint, tomato sauce, hint of rubber tyre, good toasty oak. A dry and powerful palate, touch warm, with fine driving tannins. FUll-bodied, and improving exponentially in the glass. 18/20

Mount Mary Cabernet Sauvignon 1996
Fine brown rim, dusty,earthy, dry cedar aromas. So fine on the palate; beautiful sour cherry/cassis, and good length. 12.2% alc. 17/20
I gave this huge points for its mouthfeel. Just sublime.

Yarra Yering Red Wine No.1 2001
Noticeably younger looking than the previous wines. Leafy,mint,bitumen. Faint chemical. 12.5% alc. Impressive palate entry. Medium bodied. 15/20

Balnaves The Tally 2005
Bigger wine. Touch clear at the rim, but dark through the centre, suggesting some age ? Chocolate, sweet cedar with a green edge and very grippy. 16/20

Balnaves The Tally 2004
Dark colour with fine brown rim. Dry aroma of menthol, dry cedar/cigar box, and roast jus. Quite austere drinking, and really very excellent. 17/20

Mayfield Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Tiny bit of browning at the rim. Gravel, mint, and sweet bery aromas. Palate vibrant and good length. Medium-full-bodied. 14/20

Henschke Cyril 2002
Dark colour but showing some age. Green edged. Tomato leaf, toasted oak, ash-tray. Good mouthfeel, good length, but for some reason or other, I didn't "get" the flavour profile. 14/20

Penfolds Bin 920 Cab/Shz 1990
13%alc. Sweet biscuity oak aromas and roast tray, with almost fairy-floss/bubblegum fruity aromas. Mid-dark colour. A soft soupy mouthfeel (in a good way) that really coats the mouth. I and everyone else wound up really loving this. 18/20

Koonara Ambriels Gift Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
13.5% alc. Middle aged. A subtle nose overall with earth, leaf, gravel and fine sweet red fruit aromas. Medium- full-bodied, with fine yet powerful tannins and a touch austere overall. 16/20

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1992
Older looking wine with a faint brown rim. Subtle nose of cedar/pencil, with a sweet palate entry. A dry wine with fine, firm tannins. I double decanted this about 6-7 hours prior to drinking, which seemed to do the trick. 17/20

Torres Gran Coronas 1983
Others thought this faulty, but I was kinda OK with it in a funky euro way...could be my ever tiring palate...

St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
Dark colour. A very leafy nose. Gravel, wet cedar, and a faint medicinal aroma. Young looking wine, here; grippy with sweet flavours across the palate, but just not enough happening on the nose. Time may fix this with more mature complexities. 15/20

Stanton & Killeen VP 1997
Browning plum colour. Good drinking; warm and rich but not overly so. In a good spot with good balance.

We narrowed wine-of-the-night down to the '92 John Riddoch, the '04 Tally, and the Penfolds Bin 920

The Bin 920 was then disqualified for been "off-theme" (quite unfair to the Bin 920, what a great wine !), giving WON to the '92 Joh Riddoch by a hair.

There was general agreement around the table at the high quality of wines we got through tonight, with only two real duds (the Torres, which is mentioned above, and a Murdock Cab Sauv 2000, which was corked and not reviewed.

Again, a very hearty thanks from me personally to everyone in attendance, and I'm looking forward to the next time we can catch up !

Cf

[Ozzie W]

Thanks very much, Benchmark. But I can't take all the credit. You got the offline started, so it wouldn't have happened without your initiative. And a thankyou as well to Chris for booking the venue.

[mjs]

Ozzie W, thanks for the pics and thanks to everyone for their generosity, it was great night. Bergerac is a good relaxed venue, good glassware, decanters etc. Lots of wine, only a couple of bottles were in less than fine shape. All tasted blind with options. It was an interesting exercise, Coonawarra vs the rest. Perhaps because we had a wide range of the "rest", MR's absence notwithstanding, it was hard to call a regional conclusion. For me the Coonawarra wines were good to very good but there was also plenty to like in the rest. My brief and subjective recollections follow, for what they are worth ... hopefully cuttlefish, who was taking copious notes, can comment more meaningfully

2006 Arras Blanc de Blancs (Tasmania)
What a fantastic fizz to start, complexity, great mouthfeel, little bit of citrus, toast
2011 Scotchmans Hill Cornelius Sauvignon (Bellarine)
really nice gentle oak treatment, my kind of savvy (if I was going to have savvy )
2005 Willespie SSB (MR)
green character but not a green wine, if that makes sense, nice drop
2003 Lakes Folly Cabernet (Hunter)
opened with a little bit of funk for me (Hunter-ish?) but blew off, beautiful wine, elegant
98 Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet (Coonawarra)
a bit different to other 98 JR's that I have had,couldn't put my finger on it, but fruit, tannin, structure, enjoyable
2000 Mount Mary Quintets (Yarra Valley)
really enjoyed this, elegant (as Chris says), good fruit, structure, beautiful to drink
2001 Yarra Yering Dry Red #1 (Yarra Valley)
surprisingly, didn't do a lot for me
2005 Balnaves The Tally Cabernet (Coonawarra)
huge wine to start, dense, black fruits, kept this in the glass for a while and it opened up beautifully, nice now but will go for yonks
2004 Balnaves The Tally Cabernet (Coonawarra)
After Vlad tabled the 2005, I just had to go with the 2004. Had been double decanted 2+ hrs before. Not as dense as the 2005, perhaps more elegance, undoubtedly benefitted from decanting, again good structure, love this label
2000 Murdock Cabernet (Coonawarra)
TCA
2005 Mayfield Cabernet (Orange)
Have not had this before and enjoyed it, think I said it showed as quite Coonawarra like but probably not from Coonawarra.
2002 Henschke Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Merlot (Eden Valley)
Enjoyed this but no specific comment
1990 Penfolds Bin 920 Cabernet Shiraz (Coonawarra)
A ring in, out of spec for the night in age and blend, but absolutely beautiful wine for mine, a good bottle, elegant, complex, beautiful bouquet
2006 Koonara Ambriel's Gift Cabernet (Coonawarra)
big wine, black fruits, dense, still young, would benefit from more time
1992 Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet (Coonawarra)
medium depth in the glass, beautiful bouquet, red fruits, lovely integration of fruit and oak, beautiful drink
1983 Torres Gran Corona (Spain)
this bottle was past it
2004 Orlando St Hugo Cabernet (Coonawarra)
little bit of mint like other St Hugo's. good colour, a little disjointed perhaps, but good drink
1997 Stanton & Killen Vintage Port (Rutherglen)
nice end to the evening, enjoyed this

A great range of wines, a lot to like, 14 reds in all, 8 Coonawarra (7 tasted) and 6 "Others". A result in terms of Coonawarra vs the Rest, hard to say. Coonawarra showed very strongly, but as an objective Coonawarra-phile ( ), a number of other wines also very good. Perhaps shows that good cabernet in Australia can come from a number of areas. Would have been good to have one or two MR wines, maybe do that next time.

Very hard to pick a WOTN, my candidates were Mt Mary, both Tallys, Bin 920, 92 JR. I think Bin 920 just takes the overall gong for me with the Mt M and the JR close seconds. Arras BdB definitely streets ahead as FOTN

A very enjoyable night. We will have to do something similar soon! MR vs the Rest!

[mjs]

hopefully cuttlefish, who was taking copious notes, can comment more meaningfully

haha ... as usual, I'm a kick behind the play looking at p3 rather than p4 where cuttlefish' notes have already been posted. Great notes, thanks for that!

[grb2001]

An excellent night - thanks to all contributors!
Great notes Cuttlefish.
We clearly need another night to compare those WOTN contenders again!

[dave vino]

Pretty epic line-up, some great wines there. Those Pennies obscure Bins are raising in stature year after year (920, 620, 90A etc)

Shame there were no Moss Wood, Diane Mads to shape up to the Coonawarra ones.

[mjs]

Dave, yes is was pretty epic. Note your comment about MR, yes it would have been good to have some representation from there. Think we're going to do some MR comparison soon, maybe next month
Cheers, Malcolm