The Auswine Forum

Mornin' Folks,

Well its now official. We are in a new Financial Year with lower personal tax rates, so we all have more money to spend on wine.

Time to let each other know what we have been drinking over the last week .....

2004 Schubert Estate Gooseyard Block Shiraz - discovered that there was still a glass left in the bottle 5 days after opening up. Lovely, soft velvety mouthfeel. Blueberry and chocolate nose. Should last a long time on this showing.

2006 Mollydooker Goosebump Sparkling Red - sadly no fizz, but a nice wine. Not quite as rich and alcoholic as I expected.

Not a lot this week but a few to ponder over -

Hoddle's Creek 2006 Chardonnay - rip snorter of a wine for the price albeit substantially less sulphury and more open and approachable than the very reticent last bottle opened a while back. Lovely mealy, melon and nutty smells and flavours with a solid core of acidity to provide liveliness and crispness on a lengthy and authoritative finish. Very nice wine indeed - 91 points - screw cap.

Mount Pleasant Elizabeth 2004 - this was the $8 a bottle purchase (I bought several cases) from some time back - initially quite spritzy with some colour development. The undissolved CO2 dissipated quickly to reveal a young grassy unoaked semillon with a little toast and nutty bottle-derived nuance but overall a solid if a little unexciting (as most Hunter semillon's are at 5 years of age) that needs another 5 years to be at its best. The palate is well-balanced and quite long. Nice wine. 88 points. Screw cap.

Hanging Rock Heathcote Shiraz 2002 - bought this for a ridiculously low price some months ago - my first bottle was very soupy and heavily over-oaked by American barrels. This bottle was consumed over 3 nights and it was at its best on night 3 when the oak had integrated with attractive blackberry and licorice fruit and the disgusting vanilla milkshake smells and flavours had eroded. Very easy to dismiss as an example of Aussie gobbly-gook (including some fierce tannin and heat from the 14% A/V) early on night 1 but by the end of the bottle I was more than happy to drink it. 74 points, night one (almost drinkable), grading to 88 (very good), 48 hours later. Somewhat of a roller-coaster ride but, in the end, certainly worth the price of a ticket. Diam.

Quiet week for me

04 Taylors Cab Sav Drinking this one right now so no notes

99 Montrose Black Shiraz very nice once left long enough to open up Black is a great word for this wine , A bit of stewed plums and later on some coffee and a lot of chocolate flowed in . holding well on the palate and comes together well for i think 12 dollars at the time .

This wine on its good years is always good and this one reminded me how good the 96's were

Regards Dazza

Over the last few months i have been drinking very little...well... almost nil, but this weekend i broke the drought with a Shaw Smith [b]M3 Adelaide Hills [/b]Chardonnay 2007. The aroma was super with a mix of nuttiness and gentle caramel,reflecting i suppose a gentle char of the oak. The mouth feel was even better with a beautiful balance of gentle soft peaches like my grandfather used to grow in them thar hills facing the morning sun. And the end with the acid cleansing it all ... well it was such a beautiful way to end not drinking.... and it makes me appreciate the saying... all ways,but Chardonnay!

1999 Penfolds St Henri

One word. Delicious.

Cheers,

Monghead.

A couple of relative cheapies:
Cookoothama Shiraz 2007
Good to very good wine but lacked a bit of depth or length for me. I didn't like it as much as the the Taylors Shiraz 07 I had the previous week.
Taylors Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
This would probably be my bargain wine of the year so far (off the top of my head)- although it was purchased a few years ago. This was high quality cabernet, nicely softening tannins since last tasted. Ridiculously good value. I haven't tried the latest vintage of this wine but I do like the shiraz as mentioned above.

2005 Tim Adams Aberfeldy: Plums, chocolate and oak on the nose. Delicious pristine blackfruits, powdery tannins and creamy oak, very slippery Left overnight and improved the next day. Will try to leave my other bottles alone for 5-8 years.

dazza1968 wrote:Quiet week for me

04 Taylors Cab Sav Drinking this one right now so no notes

99 Montrose Black Shiraz very nice once left long enough to open up Black is a great word for this wine , A bit of stewed plums and later on some coffee and a lot of chocolate flowed in . holding well on the palate and comes together well for i think 12 dollars at the time .

This wine on its good years is always good and this one reminded me how good the 96's were

Regards Dazza

Adding to my notes the 04 Taylors on the second night is fabulas This wine is one that never really lets you down and from what i have seen will age a while , 98's still going strong and the 02's are hibernating just a little longer

06 Johanns Garden from Henschke A bit different to normal , Had oak straight away on opening Like vanilla /caramel, macadamia nut all present ! quiet unusual and a real confectionary style of fruits flowing thru.So left it till tonight for a retry(sample )alot more pepper and spice on the nostrils and the alc there as well mind you handles the alc well on the palate , still has a jammy style of fruit a little wild cherry,and hangs well on the glass really silky fine tannins are prevalent I think i batter leave the rest alone for a while as this really needs a couple of years to show some pleasure ( Listen its still Yummy) so if you choose to drink now then go for it


Regards Dazza

Roscoe wrote:A couple of relative cheapies:
Cookoothama Shiraz 2007
Good to very good wine but lacked a bit of depth or length for me. I didn't like it as much as the the Taylors Shiraz 07 I had the previous week.
Taylors Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
This would probably be my bargain wine of the year so far (off the top of my head)- although it was purchased a few years ago. This was high quality cabernet, nicely softening tannins since last tasted. Ridiculously good value. I haven't tried the latest vintage of this wine but I do like the shiraz as mentioned above.

Agree on the 04 Taylors I went to a tasting and they had all the wines from 94 and wow was it great seeing them with some age

Regards Dazza

2007 Battle of Bosworth Chardonnay Viognier - rich and opulent, delicious and amply structured. Rubenesque .

monghead wrote:1999 Penfolds St Henri

One word. Delicious.

Cheers,

Monghead.

Hello Monghead,
Have you had the 97 recently? I know its not a great year but i have a couple of bottles and was thinking of drinking them

Regards Dazza

dazza1968 wrote:

monghead wrote:1999 Penfolds St Henri

One word. Delicious.

Cheers,

Monghead.

Hello Monghead,
Have you had the 97 recently? I know its not a great year but i have a couple of bottles and was thinking of drinking them

Regards Dazza

No, sorry. We only really started cellaring in 2001-2 onwards. Thus, missed this vintage largely, except for the premiums which, back then, were out of our reach anyways.

Based on the fact it was a weaker vintage, it should be drunk soon I guess.

Let us know what you think of it eh?

Cheers,

Monghead.

Will open one this week end to see how they are going (rest have been OK at best)

Regards Dazza