TN: 1996 South Aust Reds

[GraemeG]

NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - 1996 SOUTH AUST REDS - Alio's, Surry Hills (5/11/2012)

This was going to be a cracker. The best South Australian red wine vintage since 1990; Rotters bringing respected wines (mostly); stand by for a top night…

2010 Hamelin Bay Chardonnay Blanc de Blanc - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
[cork, 12.4%]{Glenn} Fizz from Margaret River is certainly a novelty. Bright, youthful nose of granny smith apples; which crisply manifest themselves on the palate too. A light-medium body doesn’t preclude rather aggressive, if small bubbles. It’s extraordinarily fresh, but this does rather come at the expense of complexity; there’s not a lot of bottle-ferment character with a 2010 vintage, obviously. A wine to drink in the harsh summer sun of Western Australia, not a wood-panelled dining room.

1996 Wolf Blass Cabernet Sauvignon Yellow Label - Australia, South Australia
[cork, 14%] {Geoffrey} Decanted immediately for a collapsed cork, but oxygen won’t revive a corpse. Old woody, leathery nose smells like a house ripe for demolition. And the palate’s already been carted away.

1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[cork, 13%] {Stephen} Not decanted. Lovely dark, aged nose of currant and herb with a touch of vanilla. The palate is still somewhat fruity; coolish cabernet-like leaves, basil, herbs and dark berries meld with a light oak touch. Low level tannins are soft and chalky; the finish is medium-bodied, dry, and of medium length, although it was a little hollower than I expected somehow. Medium length finish. Probably would have showed better with some decanter time; seems to be at peak on this showing.

1996 Normans Cabernet Sauvignon Chais Clarendon - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
[cork, 12.5%] {Graeme} No decant. First vintage of this, from a maker since gone to Southcorp’s (or Mildara’s?) brand graveyard. Classic crowd-pleasing nose of plush plums and vanilla, but all very aged. The palate is still juicy; positively infused with american oak. There’s a greenish note to the medium tannins which will finish up dominating everything I think; overall this is medium-bodied with a medium-length, fairly even, sound-but-simple finish. Probably past its best, but will cling on for a few more years.

1996 Peter Lehmann Shiraz Eight Songs - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
[cork, 14.5%] {DavidC} Poured without decanting. Sweetly spicy aged cinnamon & sandalwood aromas. Raspberry jam with a touch of cedar. The palate’s pretty luscious still; the rich fruit evident on the palate picks up a peppery touch and culminates in an almost caramel-like sweetness. Medium dusty tannins charge through on the medium-length finish; it’s still not more than medium-bodied overall – this was Lehmann’s first pitch at an elegant french-oaked shiraz after years of american oak. It concludes with a touch of warmth; but nothing to suggest it hasn’t got another 5-8 years of decent cellaring left in the tank. Pretty good wine all round.

1996 Yalumba The Signature - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
[cork, 14%] {DavidM} Had a 2-hour decent prior to tasting but there’s something definitately wrong here. The nose is nasty; cabbage-like, with some aceto-bacterial infection going on or something. The palate is dull dank and volatile, with soft tannins, no presence, no finish. Oxidised? Stuffed, at any rate. NR (flawed)

1996 Yalumba Shiraz The Octavius - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
[cork, 14.5%] {Greg} Opened and poured. The massive dill-and-coconut nose you expect from this era smells old. The palate offers burnt caramel, coconut, vanilla, oak, oak. And oak. It’s medium to full-bodied with lots of chalky tannin still. The weight sits toward the front half of the tongue, and the finish is medium length, but there’s no nuance here, no complexity. The medium length finish is part horror, part fascination – ah, there’s the complexity! Frankenstein’s monster is sweet 16…

1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[cork, 13.5%] {Graeme} Double decanted 3 hours prior. This should have been a triumph of the night, but the nose was bacterial and disgusting. The palate was stripped and flat. Seems to be a mix of brett and oxidation. Or something. Not obviously corked, though. A disaster.

1996 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 - Australia, South Australia
[cork, 13.5%] {Gordon} Double-decanted about 3 hours prior to drinking. Developing nose of classic Penfolds CS style; dark currants laced with vanilla and meat. The core of the palate is rich and ripe; the acid’s a little jangly; it has high level powdery tannins, and the oak is settling in. The fruit is still quite primal in many ways; it nhas a long even palate and a long finish, but needs lots more time to soften and charm. Keep another ten years at least for best effect, although it’s more rewatrding to drink now than this note really indicates, I must admit.

1996 Lindemans Cabernet Sauvignon St. George - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[cork, 13%] {DavidM} Opened as a back-up, with so many earlier disappointments; all this did was add to them. A dark green olive note; developing, but dark and subdued aromas constituted the nose. The palate was lean and mean; has some leafy cabernet-derived black fruits in an aged way; soft gritty tannins, about medium-bodied weight, and a washed-out, short finish. Oh dear. As it turned out, this was a harbinger of Lindemans Coonawarra for the following ten years. Another dud, although I suspect this is a typical example, unlike the night’s previous poor bottles.

2011 Scarborough Riesling Late Harvest - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
[375ml, screwcap, 9.5%] {Glenn} This is a wine of gently-honeyed sweetness, light-medium-bodied, with decent acid, but hard to pin down. It’s bright and severe, even steely and bracing, but despite the sweetness seems to lack a core. It’s a kind of exoskeleton wine. Weird, or maybe it’s just me. Lacks a warm minerally note that gives sweeter rieslings their charm. Perhaps a little time will help.

2009 Delas Frères Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise La Pastourelle - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise
[375ml, cork, 15%] {Glenn} Sweet pineapple and musk aromas with syrupy candy flavours, but I always find MdBdV dominated by alcoholic heat. This seems to be a sound example if you like the style.

Well, despite a few decent wines – the ever-reliable Penfolds, along with the standard Wynns and the 8 songs – the night was a bit of a fizzer, especially given what should have been a hugely successful theme. You just can’t pick them.

[rens]

All sounds a little unfortunate. The title of the thread had me thinking a block buster. Just goes to show you never can tell until you pull the cork. Thanks for sharing all the same.

[Mike Hawkins]

Wow, next time I'm in Oz its time I looked at some of these... maybe they're not as good as they should be....

[n4sir]

Some shock results there. I've had truly great bottles of the Wynns Cabernet, John Riddoch, Yalumba Signature & even the St. George in the last couple of years, no way they should be like that - really disturbed about some of the bacterial-like descriptors, automatically makes me wonder about provenance, even for such a well established group.

Cheers,
Ian

Ps. I don't think you can blame Southcorp for the demise of Normans, if I recall correctly they went broke through their own efforts.

[GraemeG]

I wondered a bit too, Ian - although we've done so well with other wines over the years it almost felt like all the catch-ups came at once. The Wynns black was fine, but the JR & Signature were totally unexpected.
Octavius & St George didn't really surprise me, I must say...
cheers,
GG

[daz]

Ya just gotta luv corks, eh.

[mjs]

Some shock results there. I've had truly great bottles of the Wynns Cabernet, John Riddoch, Yalumba Signature & even the St. George in the last couple of years, no way they should be like that - really disturbed about some of the bacterial-like descriptors, automatically makes me wonder about provenance, even for such a well established group.

Same for me with great bottles. I agree with Ian, sounds like something is not right with provenance

eg. 96 BL out of my cellar is drinking very nicely at present thankyou

[Mahmoud Ali]

I have to think that Ian is correct, that poor provenance might be to blame. Sure some of the over-extraced heavily wooded examples like the Octavius might be out of balance but by all accounts 1996 was one of the better years of the decade for South Australian wines. Just a couple of weeks ago I had a brilliant bottle of d'Arenberg's '96 Custodian and a few years before a youthful example of the '96 Koonunga Hill.

I wouldn't worry about well stored bottles of the classics like the Wynn's Black Label and Riddoch, Yalumba's Signature, or the Penfold's.

And for those who think that corks are to blame I can give you an address in Sydney where you can forward all you older bottles of wine.

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

[dlo]

Whatever Wynns did in 1996 with the Black Label was, IMHO, not even close to satisfactory for the vintage. As most of you know, I have been a collector/supporter of Wynns red wine since 1983, cutting my teeth on the wonderful 1976 Cabernet. The bottle Graeme describes above sounds like one of the (very few) better examples from the 1996 vintage. Open as many more of these as you like and the "hollowness" he mentions as being a slight let down will be there in varying degrees. I tried a few early in this wine's life that I thought had some promise. All to no avail I'm afraid. Subsequent openings always ending with disappointing results. Wynns record with their Black Label in the nineties after the very successful 1990 and 1991 vintages is something that does not sit all that well with me. Even the 1998 wasn't the greatest effort from a top vintage. Bottle variation seems the main problem with this vintage. A luminary once told me - "if you couldn't make a good wine in 1998, you shouldn't be in the business". I'm just glad Wynns changed their viticultural/winemaking team/philosophies in the early naughties. To me, the results shine like a beacon in (most of) the wine's themselves. Although I do worry about the amount of label "diversity" coming out of the winery of late - a move that often results in degradation of the base wine quality. Although, if they're producing much better grape quality right across the board then the opposite result could also be achievable. Time will tell. So far, so good.

I pretty well gave up on buying the John Riddoch and Michael a long time ago (although I did buy a six pack of 1998 and 2004 JR), so I am unable to comment specifically on the 1996 John Riddoch or how that label performed after the incredibly good 1990 vintage, although I continue to enjoy drinking my dwindling supplies of John Riddoch's from the eighties. The 1982 is a legend (if you get one of the really good one's!), 1983 is hard to get, the 1984's still hanging there but don't hold your breathe, 1985 is tired, 1986 generally excellent, 1987 is a bit green and becoming asparagussy, 1988 is an excellent wine and 1989 is very much like the 1983.

Thanks to Graeme for filling us in on the details of what should have been a great tasting.

Footnote - I'm more than happy to hear Ian n4sir has tried an outstanding bottle (or two) of 1996 Wynns Black label. To date, I haven't.

[phillisc]

David, is your tongue planted firmly in your cheek re comments about the 83 and 89 "vintages" of John Riddoch?
Should you add the 95 and 2000-02, and 2007 to the list as well, as being hard to get wines.

Cheers
Craig.

[mjs]

David, is your tongue planted firmly in your cheek re comments about the 83 and 89 "vintages" of John Riddoch?
Should you add the 95 and 2000-02, and 2007 to the list as well, as being hard to get wines.

Cheers
Craig.

quite, given that it wasn't made in those years

[Mahmoud Ali]

David,

I certainly haven't the experience that you have with Wynn's wines so I guess you should have the last word on quality and longevity of their wines in the 90s. Although I haven't tasted the '96 and '98 Black Label I have them in my cellar. Perhaps I should look into digging out the '96 and see for myself. As for the John Riddoch I have tasted the '94 and '98 but not the '96. I thought the former wines were quite good though I tasted them at different points in their evolution (the '98 was at cellar door on release).

Mahmoud

[dlo]

David, is your tongue planted firmly in your cheek re comments about the 83 and 89 "vintages" of John Riddoch?
Should you add the 95 and 2000-02, and 2007 to the list as well, as being hard to get wines.

Cheers
Craig.

What the ....! They didn't make JR in 2000 to 2002? Or 2007?

Well I'll be .......

Told you I'd lost touch with this wine.

[Peter Schlesinger]

[quote="GraemeG"]NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - 1996 SOUTH AUST REDS - Alio's, Surry Hills (5/11/2012)
1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[cork, 13.5%] {Graeme} Double decanted 3 hours prior. This should have been a triumph of the night, but the nose was bacterial and disgusting. The palate was stripped and flat. Seems to be a mix of brett and oxidation. Or something. Not obviously corked, though. A disaster.

Just came back from Berrima where we had dinner at Eschalot. With some trepidation, we took a bottle of 96 JR along - plus some back up in case it failed. Have to say that the wine was superb. Cork firm (just a thin line of red though from base to capsule but it meant nothing), nose clean, complex and stunning with a beautiful balance of oak and fruit, fruit started a bit muted but came up over half an hour after decanting with no indications of the dreaded tomato leaf. Hit its peak at about an hour as the aromas toned down and the fruit lifted. Chalky tannins gradually increased but never to the point of irritation. Very happy with it. Just supports the cliche that there are no good wines - just good bottles. BTW for those in the vicinity, Eschalot offers exceptionally good food with one of the best wine lists I've seen in any restaurant.

[mjs]

Whatever Wynns did in 1996 with the Black Label was, IMHO, not even close to satisfactory for the vintage. As most of you know, I have been a collector/supporter of Wynns red wine since 1983, cutting my teeth on the wonderful 1976 Cabernet. The bottle Graeme describes above sounds like one of the (very few) better examples from the 1996 vintage. Open as many more of these as you like and the "hollowness" he mentions as being a slight let down will be there in varying degrees. I tried a few early in this wine's life that I thought had some promise. All to no avail I'm afraid. Subsequent openings always ending with disappointing results. Wynns record with their Black Label in the nineties after the very successful 1990 and 1991 vintages is something that does not sit all that well with me. Even the 1998 wasn't the greatest effort from a top vintage. Bottle variation seems the main problem with this vintage. A luminary once told me - "if you couldn't make a good wine in 1998, you shouldn't be in the business". I'm just glad Wynns changed their viticultural/winemaking team/philosophies in the early naughties. To me, the results shine like a beacon in (most of) the wine's themselves. Although I do worry about the amount of label "diversity" coming out of the winery of late - a move that often results in degradation of the base wine quality. Although, if they're producing much better grape quality right across the board then the opposite result could also be achievable. Time will tell. So far, so good.

I pretty well gave up on buying the John Riddoch and Michael a long time ago (although I did buy a six pack of 1998 and 2004 JR), so I am unable to comment specifically on the 1996 John Riddoch or how that label performed after the incredibly good 1990 vintage, although I continue to enjoy drinking my dwindling supplies of John Riddoch's from the eighties. The 1982 is a legend (if you get one of the really good one's!), 1983 is hard to get, the 1984's still hanging there but don't hold your breathe, 1985 is tired, 1986 generally excellent, 1987 is a bit green and becoming asparagussy, 1988 is an excellent wine and 1989 is very much like the 1983.

Thanks to Graeme for filling us in on the details of what should have been a great tasting.

Footnote - I'm more than happy to hear Ian n4sir has tried an outstanding bottle (or two) of 1996 Wynns Black label. To date, I haven't.

Finally got round to pulling a bottle of 96 BL out of the cellar - more on that shortly.

David, my comments are similar, although I may have been a Wynns fan for a little longer by the sound of things from vintages in the early 70's. Have had some wonderful BL's over the years, even some in the 60's and one or two in the 50's which are like drinking Australian wine history. Still buy a bit of JR though, 08 was the last purchase (an have had some equally enjoyable JRs over the years). I agree that the relatively recent change in practices in the vineyard has reaped some great results in the naughties, so can't complain there. ANyway, back to tasting.

Previously tried the 96 (and 95 I think) in magnums at Xmas 12 months ago and it was drinking superbly. It generally gets a good wrap in the pantheon of BLs. So I was interested to see how a bottle was faring yesterday and I have to say that I was disappointed.

Level was good right up under the capsule, there was a little bit of mould on top of the cork but the cork came out in one piece and was in good nick with only a little staining at the base. Great colour, but the bouquet was spoiled by a bit of dankness, not dis-similar to being corked but it was different, more like greeness whic I didn't expect and it wasn't brett. The fruit was there but it was muted and spoiled by the same fault. Drinkable but disappointing. Just proves the adage that there are only good bottles of old wine. I look forward to the next one in due course. I do have my eye on a bottle of the 65 in the cellar!!

[Mahmoud Ali]

I do have my eye on a bottle of the 65 in the cellar!! [/quote]

You're a very lucky man...................

[mjs]

I do have my eye on a bottle of the 65 in the cellar!!

You're a very lucky man...................[/quote]
No, just selective at auctions, and poorer for it