We arrived a bit late and I had the first glass of red thrust into my hand. Elegant, cigar box dusty fruit. Purple berries, black olives and flat cola that can go with riper years in cool areas. While I haven't had a great deal of Yarra Cabernet (yet) this seem to fit the mold of a warm year cabernet from there. Nice, very ripe, drink soon. The wine?: 98 Wantirna Amelie Cabernet Merlot.
Bottle 2 had been open a few days. I dead set thought this was a 15%+ Barossa shiraz. Fishermans friend strength menthol, almost apricots over the liqueured berry fruit. This turns out to be the 01 Setanta Cuchulain Shiraz. Nice wine and very surprising considering its origins.
I got distracted as bottle 3 appeared, and all I wrote was cassis, quite tannic in a fine way, with a leafy streak through it. Very good wine. The 01 Kulkunbulla Cabernet Merlot is a good wine indeed, and I can see what the Sydney crew are on about now, would be happy to own some of these.
Bottle 4 is my mystery wine. White pepper and stonefruit. Spice, smoke and something funky going on here. A tiny bit of brett? Also reckon this has something in it lifting the shiraz that isn't disclosed on the label, maybe Viognier, maybe Cabernet Franc, maybe something else. The 01 Massena 11th hour Shiraz has improved a lot since a year ago where it didnt show much at all, and is now a good wine despite any uncertainty about what's really in the bottle.
Now some wines not served blind.
02 Spinifex Shiraz Viognier: Barossa Valley, made by Peter Schell (Turkey Flat) and Magaly Gely. Miniscule production, 58 cases. 5% Viognier. We were warned to decant this a long time, and I don't think we gave it enough. Nose is dominated by apricots
, and the palate by dried apricots 
. The length is impressive, and the tannin structure stands out. Later in the evening this had settled down and was showing some plum and spice but was still quite closed. Reserve judgement, this might grow into something incredibly good.
02 Spinifex Indigene: 55% Shiraz, 45% Mouvedre. 250 cases made. Dark fruits and earth on a nose that was initially quite closed, but showed some VA. Earthy plum palate, with some chewy licorice tones too. Savoury, yummy, fine and tannic finish, and a great food wine. For this style this is very good indeed, liked this a lot.
And in among the reds, a white, and a good one.
03 Pizzini Arneis: Hey, this is a bit of alright! Apples, limes, blossoms. A touch of residual sugar and also quite fruit sweet. Not the acid of Riesling (but enough to deal with the sugar), and not the fatness of Pinot Gris, I'd pick this as a great match for more elegant Asian cuisine, say Northern Chinese. I liked this too.
Back to the reds.
02 Spinifex Esprit: Grenache, Shiraz, Cinsault, Mouvedre. While this started as savoury spicy plums, a bit of time showed some sweet raspberry fruit, and this was the most fruit sweet of the Spinifex wines. There was also a peppery lift and some plums, and in a different way to the Indigene, another good food wine.
Now another mystery wine. Inky, licoricey alcohol. Musky red berry grenache fruit. Big, alcoholic and tannic. While this is probably OK, a poor wine in this company. The 02 Kaesler Stonehorse GSM is in the same mold as the 01, but the 15.5% alcohol isn't doing this any favours. The fact that the alcohol %age is shown in 3 point font is also puzzling.
And the last red is the 02 Teusner Avatar, another Barossa GSM blend, made in small quantities by Kym Teusner. Pastry dough and dark fruits nose. Red and Black fruits, black pepper. Sweet, perfumed raspberry fruit and fine, subtle tannins. Lovely drinking.
And as the night wore on a lovely 1998 botrytised riesling from Giesen Estate in Canterbury, which was right in the groove of a more elegant, non-noble one style. Apricot, ripe apples and grapefruit, some botrytis influence. Light and clean but good length and some spice in the finish as well.
WOTN: Tough. Very tough. This was a good lineup indeed. The Spinifex Indigene was probably the best on the day, although the Wantirna was a very nice drink also. Loved the Pizzini Arneis and the Geisen dessert wine too. What the heck, the only wine I wouldn't be happy to own was the Stonehorse GSM.
Cheers
Andrew