The Auswine Forum

I've been doing a bit of research into this wine prior to purchasing a few bottles. As most people know it's a wine that is in the Langtons Classification. Jeremy Oliver always gives it good marks, as do other wine critics. However there are hardly any posts on this forum about the wine and peoples opinions on it. Are there any regular buyers of the Lake's Folly that can tell me their thoughts on the wine please. Also those that don't buy it, I'd like your opinion as to why.
Thanks in Advance for your thoughts.

Here you go:

2009 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (1/15/2011)
Hunter Valley - 7 Cellar Doors (Pokolbin): {375ml, cork, 13%} Two-thirds cabernet sauvignon, with shiraz, petit verdot and merlot making up the rest in the percentages 15/10/8 respectively. The nose is the nearest thing to Bordeaux I’ve smelt all day, with primary fruits very soft and elegant; violets, pure cassis, and a touch of herb garden about it. The palate has the finest medium-strength powdery tannins, vaguely brmably, herby fruit, although without any suggestion of unripeness. Perhaps surprisingly the shiraz doesn’t really stand out; this is a blend in the true sense of the word. Medium-long finish with plenty of mid-palate presence, and the back of the tongue is attended to as well. Classy wine. I imagine a price rise is coming…

2001 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (1/18/2011)
{cork, 13%} Mid garnet, clearly aging somewhat. The nose is certainly more advanced than I'd expect for a 10-year-old, but, oh! what a wonderful bouquet. Cigar boxes, polished leather armchairs, developing subtle cassis fruits wrapped in subtley aging cedary oak. A mix of cabernet, petit verdot, shiraz & merlot in the percentages 60/20/10/10, the palate is gloriously long and even, medium-bodied only, with some earthiness but no brett. Like a lavish old-style claret, the finest of tannins resolve into a smooth but savoury palate; it's a magnificent Hunter red nearing its peak, but with a decent (5-8 year) plateau in front of it. A triumph.

1998 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (11/10/2001)
Retailer Tasting (Sydney): Seems more cabernet than Hunter, unusually. Plums and blackcurrant fruits, but raw and unfinished texture. Medium-bodied; in context this is fairly elegant and understated. Medium length finish which needs way more time in bottle to mature properly.

1998 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (4/12/2010)
NobleRottersSydney - Vintage Night 96-00 (Alio's, Surry Hills): [13.6%, cork] {Gordon} Yet another bottle to redeem Lake’s Folly’s reputation among the Rotters. Following Lagrange, it’s a more overtly fruity nose, despite the developed nature of the aromas. Charcoal and liquorice leap from the black fruit/cabernet nose, but not excessively so. Warm red fruits flood the palate, with a sweet tinge to them; the wine is rich and medium-full bodied, with soft powdery tannins, an even palate, and a medium length finish with just a touch of earth as evidence of its aging; this ought to see another 5-10 years quite happily. Very impressive wine.

1993 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (8/2/2004)
NobleRottersSydney - 1990 night (Lucio's, Paddington): 12.2% Brick red. A faint cedar nose, with some decayed raspberry, earth and dust. Somewhat astringent on the palate. Good balance of weight across all the palate, with a medium weight finish of moderate length. Unlikely to improve further. Not a wine for fruit-bomb fans. If you like gentle Hunter earthiness, it’s a fine wine drinking at its peak. Will complement rather than overpower food, which is precisely the intention.

1991 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (6/23/2002)
A distinct bright red. A rather varnishy and volatile nose precedes a fairly savoury palate of vaguely curranty fruitiness, but mostly just faded earth and soft tannins. There’s a certain delicacy to the wine which is pushing it rather toward feebleness. Should have been a better result for the vintage.

1988 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (8/1/2005)
NobleRottersSydney - Oz wines mid-80s (Lucio's, Paddington): {cork, 12.5%} Lakes has a bit of a bad rap in this group, but none of the four bottles I’ve tasted in the last six years has done anything to deserve such condemnation. This is mid-red, seems a bit cloudy to me, but still has some sediment which doesn’t help. The nose presents a deep rich earthy aromas, but clean and healthy, not fungal. Brambly red fruits, smooth palate. More burgundy than bordeaux. Soft texture, mid-weight, terrifically integrated balance except for a little falling away on the back palate. It did fade quite quickly (within half an hour) in the glass, but lovely while it lasted.

1987 Lake's Folly Cabernets - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (4/5/2004)
NobleRottersSydney - Hunter Valley (+Steliano Cusmiani, Bimbadgen) (Lucio's, Paddington): Fresh from 10 years of non-climate-controlled storage! There’s some distinct onion-skin colour at the rim. The bouquet presents lovely leathery old-fruit aromas. The palate is balanced very much towards the front and centre, and there’s almost no tannin left now – the back palate gets a bit of an easy ride here. Perhaps it’s sowing a little volatility now, but I think it’s very good. And it’s all of 11.8% abv. But if you don’t like the style…

It's very Hunter, not very cabernet. Change of ownership a decade ago has been excellent for the wine - quality has been rising ever since.
I think there are a lot of mediocre bottles about from the 80s & 90s, which may be why many gave up on the wine (apart from the Sydney-centric diehards).
cheers,
GG

deleted

Thanks Sean. I did find that one on Langtons.
Thanks Graeme, when I posted I hoped that someone like yourself would reply. Your notes always give me confidence when I find them doing wine research. Sounds like an underrated wine by drinkers, dispite good auction prices.
I've ordered a couple of Magnums from the winery and I'll start hunting for some aged examples with good provinence at the lottery, I mean auctions.

Hi Rens

I usually have a Lake 's Folly Cabernets or 2 every year and bought some of Max Lake's cellar if u remember the special Sally's Paddock private bin we had at an offline once I don't think I've ever had a bad one and most have been glorious with a bit of decanting. They last a long time and generally get better up to about 20 years but some have a bit of a dumb period for 5 or 6 years after the first 5. They put out a recommended drinking time schedule for their reds and if you call the winery I'm sure they'll send u one. I loved the 86, 89, 90, 97-2002.

Cheers

Luke

Luke W wrote:Hi Rens

I usually have a Lake 's Folly Cabernets or 2 every year and bought some of Max Lake's cellar if u remember the special Sally's Paddock private bin we had at an offline once I don't think I've ever had a bad one and most have been glorious with a bit of decanting. They last a long time and generally get better up to about 20 years but some have a bit of a dumb period for 5 or 6 years after the first 5. They put out a recommended drinking time schedule for their reds and if you call the winery I'm sure they'll send u one. I loved the 86, 89, 90, 97-2002.

Cheers

Luke

Yes Luke, that was a sensational wine. I just had a look and the schedule is on their website. I guess I was surprised that there was not a huge amount of info on this forum. I like to have a bit of info from the forum when I look at trying a new wine (especially when they get over $50). Nothing worse than buying one. Opening it to find it is a bit of a dud. Posting on here that it is a dud and everyone saying I could have told you that .
Thanks for the drinking window info too. I'll have to put the magnums down for a while.

I tried various vintages from the 80s and 90s and was always underwhelmed. As suh, I haven't bought it since the late 90s. Graeme's notes seem to indicate an improvement.

Mike

Since the new owners took over in the late nineties there has been a marked improvement in the quality at LF. And ignore their Chardonnay at your peril. I was lucky enough to try the 2009 late last year and I can attest to its high quality.

I like the red on the younger end of town- With age I cant tell the difference bw cab & shiraz
I once had the 1973 cab in 1995 and it was stunning ....

The '94 'Reserve' with Peking duck,BBQ King Sydney-style in 2007, was superb.

I've vintages going back 14 years now (all of them regardless of vintage) and have never been disappointed. Had a 2000 3 weeks ago that was very impressive. As an A lister I get a mixed carton, 8 red and 4 white plus 2 magnums every year. They have just released this years wines if you are interested.

Graham

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has any experience and comments on the 2007 vintage of the Lakes Folly Cabernet?

Pok

Dear All,

I can give a little historical perspective, due to my age. In the seventies the Hunter saw a huge influx of wealthy professions looking to establish thier own dream winery and lifestyle. Dr. Max Lake, along with the Petersen family (Pharmacists from memory) & the now defunct Murray Robson vineyard etc, arrived with French old world tastes and tried to create bordeauux and burgundy. Lots of new French oak appeared as well as, temperature controlled fermentation, pneumatic presses and some unlikely grape varieties. My impression of the Cab Sav wines from Lakes Follow made in the 70s and early 80s was not a happy one. The wines were big and overblown with quite hard and aggressive tannins. With the gift of hindsight, I wonder whether cab sav based wines have ever really been successful in the Hunter. I remember trying the first vintage of Tyrell's Pinot Noir. It had incredibly intense youthfull rasberry fruit, but was dead in the bottle five years later. Is the Hunter just too hot for cool climate grapes?

regards

Graham R
Zurich
Switzerland

Had a 1987 Lake Folly Cabernet a week ago that was excellent (thanks to Dave Vino). Similar to the above note, but still had some tannins, and no volatility. OK, not up there with the best from Coonawarra or Bordeaux, but a very enjoyable wine, and not past it at all. The Hunter isn't always hot, and besides a bit of heat isn't bad for Cab Sav. So yes, Cabernet based wines have been successful in the Hunter, just not a lot of them.

I've tasted Lake's Folly reds at cellar door on two occasions. To me they are cellaring wines, structured and quite tannic, not for drinking when young. Had they been available in Edmonton I might have put some away.

However, the second time I was at cellar door they had a celler release on tasting. I believe it was the '99 but I'm not sure without my notes. There was something clearly wrong with the wine, mousy with strong notes of organic chemical. i pointed this out to the cellar hand and after tasting it he promptly opened another bottle. The second bottle was better but after 15 minutes the same elements started to manifest itself. I didn't have the heart to mention this and quickly left. What the problem was I'll never know.

As for the Cabernet Sauvignon's suiting the Hunter Valley it was at Brokenwood that they told me that thet scrubbed all their Hunter Cabernets as the quality was suitable only in three out of ten years. I can't recall if they said the Cabernet was in the Graveyard vineyard.

In the upper Hunter there was a winery called Cruickshank that specialized in Cabernets, even their rose was Cab-based. If I recall, except for their whites and rose, all their reds were late releases, a commendable practice. The wines were quite good and reasonably priced. I must go back there the next time I'm near the Hunter.

Cheers.....................Mahmoud