Grand Cru dinner Saturday February 22

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

Last night saw the first official meeting of the Grand Cru - a new private wine tasting group based in Perth, Western Australia. This group was created since the WA Wine Club run by the Wine WA fell apart. It currently has about 16 members, and 10 of us congregated by invitation at the home of a generous couple in the group. Each of us brought one or two wines, with the unofficial theme being “a wine with a story”. And some of the stories were fascinating, but for the purpose of this posting, I’ll focus on the wines.

The notes below are not only my own, but incorporate descriptors and comments expressed by other members of the group. Occasionally, this took some prompting, to distract the flow of conversation back to the wines. We were a talkative bunch 

The evening commenced with a glass or two of Rockford’s Alicante Bouchet 2013 (Barossa) A clear garnet rose colour, off-dry with a lick of residual sugar over medium/high cleansing acid. Fruit flavours included fresh strawberry and cranberry, and one taster commented that this is a ‘happy’ wine! A good choice for the aperitif.

Both this and the next wine were served with red caviar on blinis, and fresh oysters.

The De Bortoli Hunter Valley Semillon 2004 followed, and for a 10 year old Hunter semillon, this was bright and fairly lightly coloured (comparatively for a 10 year old), and the freshness of the colour flowed through the flavour of the wine as well. Lightly honeyed and toasty, but still with plenty of acid and lemon butter.

This was followed by a David Franz ‘Brothers Ilk’ Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2012. I didn’t know that David is Peter Lehmann’s son, and he has used his middle name instead of surname on the label. Pale yellow in colour, with subtle but quality cedary oak supporting nectarine and buttered popcorn. There was also a nice balance between a light creamy texture and the acid on the palate. Good finish also.

This contrasted with the next wine, a Cullen Chardonnay 2004 (Margaret River). This was double decanted just prior to service, and took a little while to come out of its shell. Yellow bordering on gold in colour, it showed savoury oak with tangerine, white peach and a hint of rockmelon. With a bit of time (and warming), some of the different layers started to emerge, with peach, melon, citrus and acid flooding the palate However, the most commonly used descriptor was ‘nutty’. This wine won’t get any better, and I should drink the rest of mine fairly soon.

Then onto the reds. Mostly by coincidence, many of the wines people brought could bepaired with wines of similar grape varieties or styles brought by others, so we slipped into another gear and tasted in pairs of wines (generally).

Two pinots first up. A Domaine Faiveley 1er cru Le Clos Du Roy (Nuits St George) 2010 started is off, and kindly provided by someone who could not attend at the last minute. We were grateful for the absentee contribution. Clear ruby red, fresh strawberry nose, light bodied, fairly tight and closed (decanted an hour or so before service). Perhaps more air time and bottle age might show the potential of what is likely to become an interesting wine.

This was paired with the Ata Rangi Martinborough Pinot Noir 2008. This is a bigger wine than the Burgundy, with greater fruit sweetness and darker, fuller colour, Nose of strawberry, red cherries, mushroom, and some meaty / gamey notes. A bigger wine all round than the Burgundy, and possibly better drinking now.

The next wine sat alone – the Clonakilla Syrah 2006 (Canberra). Apparently this was the first year than Clonakilla made a straight Syrah, and 2006 was a good year for eastern Australia generally. Clear medium purple, it showed vanillan oak supporting fresh red plums, five spice, tomato leaf and a hint of capsicum. There was white pepper and spice on the palate as well, and one taster commented on a ‘condensed milk’ texture. This was a lighter, elegant style of shiraz, with a short to medium finish.

Next we got into Barossa blends:
The Penfolds Bin 138 Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache 2008 was deep purple in colour, with lots of rich dark fruits, milk chocolate, a hint of dried leather, and pine or eucalypt over fine but drying tannins and a medium to long finish.

Unfortunately, the wine it was paired with, a Rockford Grenache Mourvedre Shiraz 2008 was a victim of its cork, and largely stripped of nose and flavour. A shame.

It’s replacement was a younger wine, the Henschke 2012 Henry’s Seven Grenache Mataro Viognier. Medium purple, with some confectioned fruit from the Grenache, moderate supporting oak, some aromatic notes from the Viognier and blueberry from the Mataro. I think we drank this too young (and this was a comment applied to some of the other wines this evening as well).

Next came two Bordeaux blends, although neither was from Bordeaux.

Chateau Musar 2003 (Lebanon) Red/purple with some bricking. This was a riot of different aromas and flavours: cigar smoke, barnyard, raisiny fruit, coffee, fennel and burnt caramel. In some ways, similar to a vintage port without the higher alcohol. Very complex and a lot to keep the drinker’s interest. Probably (in my opinion) will not get any better, and at its peak.

Voyager Estate Cabernet Merlot 2004 (Margaret River). A fuller purple than the Musar. The savoury nose showed little in the way of fruit, with tobacco / cigar, coffee grounds dominating cassis. However, the fruit appeared in waves on the palate, with mint and blackcurrant, and the savoury / oaky flavours merely supporting on the palate (while dominating the nose). This was a surprise (for me, anyway), and again the comment of ‘too young’ was made.

A couple of Shiraz wines followed. The Hawker Ridge Mount Barker 2005 was a whopping 16.6% alcohol, but the fruit weight was sufficient to mostly balance out the alcohol. Still a very big wine, with lots of plums and chocolate, and I could understand what attracted taters to it. Not quite porty, but definitely rich and full.

This contracted with the Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 2010 (Barossa). A deep red purple in colour, and very closed initially. Vanilla, plummy fruit moderately chewy tannins, but this is another of the ‘too young’ brigade. What the wine showed was that it will probably be a fabulous wine in a decade, but it is way too shy now.

We didn’t need any more wine by this time, so we immediately opened a full bottle of De Bortoli Noble One 2002. Dark caramel in colour, and exactly what you would expect from a Noble One of this age - lots of dried apricot, crème brulee and toffee flavours, Acid is still cleansing and the finish is quite long. No wonder it is still Australia’s most famous sticky.

To finish (us) off, the host tried us on a Seppeltsfield (Barossa) Vintage Port 2006. Deep purple, with the expected spirit nose and sweet rich stewed fruit. Too young (gee, that’s a surprise) and I would like to see this again in 10 years.

So, 10 people, 16 wines (and only one ‘dud’) over about 7 fabulous hours. Why don’t we do this more often? And that is the point of groups like these – interesting company with like-minded people who you want to share some decent bottles with. This group is planning a range of activities like this – for example, style tastings where everyone brings a bottle (first up is likely to be rieslings), perhaps a vertical of a particular wine, a ‘brown paper bag’ event at a gourmet burger bar, sundowner on the river– the options are only limited by the imaginations of the group’s members.

Wine of the night was the Chateau Musar, although a couple of the others provided competition.

My sincere and profound thanks go to our charming hosts (you know who you are) for opening their home to us, and serving a wide range of quality food. And it was a delight to meet up with people I know, and make some new friends as well.

Cheers

Allan

[Mark Perth]

Thanks Allan

I have few 99 voyager cab Merlots. Given your comment on the 04 voyagers being too young, what's your opinion on a drinking window for the 99?

Regards
Mark

[Waiters Friend]

When you open one, Mark, I'd be delighted to hear your opinion (or be there to taste it ). I had my last 99 a couple of years ago and it was fabulous. I cannot give a 'window' however. Sorry

Allan

[daver6]

I had a '98 about a month ago and was drinking well with developed characteristics. Not sure how the '98 and '99 vintages compare, but if I had several '99 I'd definitely crack one to see how its going.