TN: Adelaide Offline at Cos with Sparky 14/4/11

[n4sir]

The first Adelaide offline for 2011 happened a little later than usual, partly because of the late vintage and other events, partly because I haven't been motivated, but Mark has fortunately taken the baton for it to finally happen. My thanks to everyone for sharing their fine wines and equally fine company, Mark for organising it, and to Cos for the great food.


1996 Yellowglen Cuvee Victoria (cork): Bright straw with an average mousse and course bead. Toasty and yeasty, full of grapefruit and a little apple, some more aldehydic notes appearing with breathing; the palate's solid but not particularly creamy, and goes flat fairly quickly. It's probably just a little past its best, but still a nice enough wine to break the ice.

1996 Tyrrells Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter Valley (cork): Toasty with some lovely sandy/oyster characters, but there's still fresh lemon fruit in abundance, a touch of lanolin and lemon marmalade at times too; the palate's tight and pristine with lovely acidity and a tight, long finish. Not quite as impressive as the 1997 a couple of months ago, but still looking very good with years in reserve.

2006 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, Margaret River (screwcap): Very peachy and sweet with a massive oak injection, but overall I thought the slight flaws that I picked out in the vertical last month are still there. The fruit weight is definitely lighter for a LEAS, the acidity and oak are slightly sticking out and there is a hollowness about three-quarters through the palate, although there is a nice rebound of smoky bacon/nutty oak on the end. It's a nice chardonnay, but I'm still not convinced that it's a great LEAS.

2006 St. Huberts Chardonnay, Yarra Valley (screwcap): In direct contrast to the LEAS this had a decidedly milky texture, and wasn't as big, bold and oaky; there's still a good core of grapefruit, bright acidity and (wild yeast?) tuna-like characters. It's nowhere near as big and flashy but is drinking well enough now, and should become quite buttery in a few years for those malo-freaks out there.

1985 Chateau Tahbilk 1860 Vines Shiraz, Nagambie Lakes (cork): Bright red. A lovely, fully developed wine, medium-weight and soft, leathery and tarry with strawberries, spices and just a little coconut and mushroom, finishing earthy and grippy but equally soft. While a few thought this was a little past its peak, I thought this was spot-on, one of the highlights of the night.

1991 Wendouree Shiraz, Clare Valley (cork): Medium red. There’s definitely a mothball-like character that Moira picked out, but there's also cool blackcurrant and black cherry fruit, black liquorice and menthol with the finest dusting of white pepper imaginable. The palate's medium-weight and grippy with black tea like tannins and meaty nuances, finishing very long and lacy; an impressive showing tonight.

1998 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley (cork): Medium to dark red/brick. Looked really flat and unimpressive next to the 1991 Shiraz, mineraly and slightly jammy, a little damp with bilgy old oak on the finish. To be honest I had the suspicion this was possibly ever so slightly scalped, although I was equally unimpressed with this vintage at the vertical last year.

1982 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon magnum (cork): Dark red. When I opened this at home I didn't immediately pick it as corked but had a sense something wasn't quite right and took my spares. A couple of hours later the taint had come to the surface, and while there was a great core of red fruits and earthy/truffle characters the damage was done. A group of us bought these Wynns refilled and recorked magnums a few years ago from a local retailer, and from memory three out of four have been corked.

1995 Jim Barry The Armagh Shiraz, Clare Valley (cork): The colour is still an impressive dark to inky red, but unfortunately that's the most impressive thing about it; it's one-dimensional with tannins that outweigh and will outlive the medium-weight minty/black cherry fruit by decades. Disappointing, even for a 1995 SA red.

1999 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz, Barossa Valley (cork): Dark to very dark red. Very stocky and meaty at first, liquorice allsorts, dark chocolate and some VA lift; the palate's bright and tangy with cherries and blueberries, almost grenache-like, finishing very dry. To be honest I was expecting more weight, and wasn't impressed considering the reputation of the vintage and the wines that followed.

2000 Mount Mary Quintet, Yarra Valley (cork): Medium to dark blood red. Beautifully perfumed with pure, lifted creme de cassis and a touch of dry herbs, while the palate's soft, medium-weight and just as elegant, with fine, chalky tannins and exceptional length. It was the one wine that I really wanted to go back to, but not surprisingly it disappeared very quickly. WOTN for me.

2000 Houghton Jack Mann, Frankland River (cork): Very dark red/purple. Raw and powerful compared to the Quintet, with obvious cedar oak, VA lift and syrupy blackcurrants/blueberries that are tarry and tart; with breathing it's noticeably minty and herbal, even slightly vegetal. An impressive wine on its own, but for all its swagger I preferred the elegance of the Quintet tonight.

2002 Elderton Command Shiraz, Barossa Valley (screwcap): If I thought the 2000 Jack Mann was heavy on the oak this was over the top, full of coconut, varnish, white coffee, cloves and vanilla ice cream, all on top of blackberry syrup and black liquorice, becoming medicinal with breathing. Unfortunately the solid core of fruit, balance and length gets lost amongst all that sweet oak.

1999 Parker Coonawarra Estate First Growth Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): Dark to very dark red. I think this was younger and better than the last bottle I remember, cool-climate with mint, blackcurrant, ash and earth; this is travelling very nicely and should benefit even more with another 3-8 years on this form.

1972 Wolf Blass Bilyara Vintage Port (cork): Made from Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz from Clare, Barossa & the Riverland. More like a tawny than a vintage, with heavy rancio characters; that said it's still very pretty, medium-weight and nutty with lifted spirit, smoky vanilla, hazelnuts and a bright finish. Much more advanced than my previous bottle, but considering its condition that wasn't a surprise.

1944 Seppelt Para Liqueur, Barossa Valley (cork): The bouquet seems a little leathery, earthy and tired, but the palate's much better, significantly bigger and darker than the 1972 Bilyara with walnuts, espresso, dark chocolate and toast, the length exceptional. It's not the best Para I've tried, but still a pleasure to taste.

2005 Coates Fortified Shiraz, McLaren Vale 500ml (DIAM): I wasn' happy with the Bilyara so I opened this, a classic, hedonistic yet surprisingly elegant VP-style, inky and custardy with black cherries and jubes, layered and lifted with fine, elegant spirit and malty oak in the background. A classic in the making, and a brilliant finish to the dinner.


Cheers,
Ian

[Wayno]

I'm with you on most of that Ian - although I had forgotten how enjoyable the Coates was, right at the tail-end, even though I was pretty much out-of-focus in most regards.

The 99 Parker, for all it's reputation didn't do that much for me, perhaps shadowed by some of the others on show. The Victorian wines did tend to outclass some of the brawnier and more caricatured SA wines (eg. the Command, for one) although I suspect that mostly came down to personal taste on the night/context etc.

Overall, it was a good line up of wines and great that Sparky could make it. It was a fairly male-dominated night and it's fair to say from my own experience, this is not entirely typical.

Thanks Mark for the organisation - good choice.

[sparky]

Cheers Ian, I'm glad someone was dedicated to capturing some useful tasting notes - mine got more & more useless as the night went on!

Overall, I think I found more joy and balance with the whites than the reds. The Tyrells Semillon was a lovely example of what the wait is all about, with some lovely characters to make it the ideal breakfast wine - buttered toast & lime marmalade

I'm sure everyone up my end of the table got my thoughts on Wendouree, so I probably don't need to go there again - but I will.. Mothballs and whiskery old ladies with a bottle of sherry in the coat pocket. Not for me, which should leave more for the Wendouree lovers out there.

Unfortunately by the time we got to the Mt Mary and the Jack Mann, the only note I made was 'Severely underage' - probably influenced by the fact that I've been fortunate to be drinking some older WA cabs of late and my eyes (and wallet) have been opened to their grace & aging potential.

The Tahbilk and the Stonewell were probably my prefered reds, one for still holding up with grace in its declining years, and the other for the promise in years ahead.

I do remember berating Wayno on the relative merits of grapes and their best uses over the fortifieds. For me, the Wolf Blass and the Seppelt were lovely balanced examples of what to do with the right grapes. The Coates on the other hand was a lovely example of why shiraz makes great table wine and for me had a big hole in the middle.

Thanks all for a most enjoyable and entertaining evening. The wedding was fabulous and little tacker enjoyed her road trip, enduring a couple of winery trips with good grace. Although she was fortunate enough to briefly meet Peter up at Magill I think she was more impressed by the goldfish in the pond outside the restaurant, and the personalised tour around Wynns with Sarah was punctuated by stops to look at various bugs and creepy crawlies. However, she did excel at Hahndorf Hill by poking her nose in a glass of Chardonnay and confidently stating that it smelled of vanilla. She'll get there yet!

[n4sir]

I sent the remnants of the 1982 Wynns magnum off for analysis, and just got an email from Sparky with the results - it wasn't only corked, it was bretty! :

Report

Analysis

4EP = 1457ppb
4EG = 76ppb
TCA = 38ppt

Analysis confirms that the wine contains a significant level of TCA. A wine containing this level would be considered faulty. The 4EP is getting up there as well

Sensory detection limits of TCA are quoted as between 2-5 ppt and can be as low as 1 ppt.

Brettanomyces sensory effects are not as straight forward. 4EP at high levels can give the wine aromas described as barnyard, medicinal and band-aids while 4EG is more often described as “spicy” and “smoky”. Relative concentrations of 4EG and 4EP influence the character of Brettanomyces sensory effects e.g. Depending on style (and a person’s sensitivity) 4EP, 4EG at lower levels with relatively high proportion of 4EG the wines could be described as complex however as 4EP levels increase this would start to be perceived as a fault

The good news is there will be a replacement coming.

Unfortunately I opened a mildly corked 2002 Serafnino Cabernet Sauvignon last night. I've had a shocking run with wines under cork so far this year, out of 126 wines to date there have been 25 failures.

Cheers,
Ian

[sparky]

Unfortunately I opened a mildly corked 2002 Serafnino Cabernet Sauvignon last night. I've had a shocking run with wines under cork so far this year, out of 126 wines to date there have been 25 failures.

Cheers,
Ian

You know of course that the cork gods are closely related to the karmic gods and they get together on a regular basis for reviews. Smile at more children, help a few elderly citizens across the road, give way to merging traffic, pat the odd dog and your stats will improve out of sight..

[n4sir]

Quick correction of a typo.

That should be 25 failures out of 146 bottles under cork (not 126) - it still isn't a good strike rate though.

Cheers,
Ian

[Steve]

I sent the remnants of the 1982 Wynns magnum off for analysis, and just got an email from Sparky with the results - it wasn't only corked, it was bretty!

Did anybody pick the brett on the night, or were we too much in awe of how drinkable it became as the night went on?

[n4sir]

I sent the remnants of the 1982 Wynns magnum off for analysis, and just got an email from Sparky with the results - it wasn't only corked, it was bretty!

Did anybody pick the brett on the night, or were we too much in awe of how drinkable it became as the night went on?

There was a barnyard smell to it before I left which was the thing that I was worried about - I thought it could either settle or become really feral by the time we got around to it at Cos, but it was there that the TCA first became noticeable. I'm still pissed off I didn't pick up the cork taint at home before I left, but these things do occasionally happen.

Cheers,
Ian