1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars*
1971 Ridge Vineyard's Monte Bello*
1970 Heitz Winer Cellars Martha's Vineyards
1972 Clos Du Val
1971 Mayacamas Vineyards
1969 Freemark Abbey Winery
1970 Ch Mouton-Rothschild
1970 Ch Montrose*
1970 Ch Haut-Brion
1971 Ch Leoville Las Cases*
A similar 30th anniversary event with the same wines (same years) was repeated by Spurrier in 2006, and again the Californian wines dominated the tasting filling the top five spots.
As part of this year's Coonawarra Cabernet Celebration weekend, a similar tasting was held in the John Riddoch Room at Wynns Coonawarra Cellars on Saturday 17 October 2015 to pit French vs Californian vs Coonawarra cabernet or cabernet blend wines in a Coonawarra version of "The Judgement of Paris". All of the wines were from 2010 or 2012. They included three Bordeaux chateaux (including two of the chateaux* in the original tasting), three Californian wines (again including two of the labels* in the original tasting) and six wines from Coonawarra. They were tasted blind in no particular order and were only revealed after considerable discussion at the end.
The tasting was led by a panel consisting of Sue Bell, a winemaker from Coonawarra who has many awards and has completed 25 vintages including Bordeaux, California and 17 in the Limestone Coast, Margot Muir, a "wine tragic", judge and well known figure in the wine trade in Adelaide, with master of ceremonies, Brett Sharpe who has been making wine for more than 20 years, more recently having responsibility for the Lindemans "Trio" wines. There were about thirty participants, including many well known Coonawarra wine makers. This shot shows Margot, Brett and Sue.
The glasses were all pre-poured and after introductions and discussions about the three regions, the tasting lasted about an hour, before further discussion about the individual wines.
My notes follow under the actual wine headings, as they were recorded when the wines were still masked. Towards the end of the tasting, it was revealed that wines 1, 7 and 9 came from the same country, as did 3, 8 and 11, as did 2, 4, 5, 6 10 and 12 (clearly the Coonawarra wines), but without revealing which wines were which, in order to have a further discussion about regional similarities. The wines were eventually revealed and a show of hands (non-Coonawarra participants) was taken to give a "winner". In the discussion about region, it seemed universally acknowledged that the Coonawarra wines seemed to exhibit very good acid structure. There were subtle regional similarities and I was both surprised and pleased that (barely) on average, I seemed to be able to differentiate the French from the Californian from the Coonawarra wines.
1. 2010 Ch Lynch Bages
Nice fruit bouquet, some oak, cedar, cigar box, bright fruit, chalky tannins, fresh acidity, dense, cassis
Thought this was French
2. 2012 Yalumba "The Menzies" Cabernet Sauvignon
little closed, bright fruit in the mouth, good balance, finish, a little juicy fruit character, eventually beautiful oak on the bouquet
Probably Coonawarra
3. 2012 Berringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Purple, a little closed, some cedar, chalky tannins, blackcurrants, opened up in the glass
Thought this might have been the Redman
4. 2012 Bowen Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
beautiful red black fruit bouquet, some oak,beautiful cedar notes, good acid, good fruit, perhaps a little austere abut persistent. Very good
Initially thought this might have been French but changed my mind and thought it was the Bowen
5. 2010 Redman Cabernet Merlot
little garnet edge, a little closed but also little estery, opened up later, some cedar, black fruits, quite grippy, interesting complexity
Thought this was either French or Californian, i.e. not Coonawarra
6. 2012 Lindemans "Pyrus"
oak, cassis, some red fruits, beautiful fruit in the mouth, tannins. lush, lots going on flavour wise
Thought this was the Pyrus
7. 2010 Ch Montrose
garnet edge, a little closed but opened up, slight plums but soft fruit, savoury, good acid, slight lack of structure
Thought this was French
8. 2012 Stag's Leap Cellars S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon
little bit of funk, maybe tobacco, coffee, supple fruit, creamy custard, oak
My least preferred, probably Californian
9. 2010 Ch Leoville-Las Cases
purple red, closed at first, some cedar, beautiful fruit structure, delicious, tannins, beautiful wine, elegance
My preferred wine of the tasting, thought this was French
10. 2012 Balnaves "The Tally" Cabernet Sauvignon
closed but opened up, beautiful plush red purple appearance, medium bodied, firm tannins, touch of menthol, black fruits
probably Coonawarra
11. 2012 Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon
little brick edge, but dense colour, slightly jammy nose, some dustiness as well, bit of coffee, am oak?, plush fruit, length violets, spice, but a little oxidative style
Thought this was Californian
12. 2012 Jack Estate "Mythology" Cabernet Sauvignon
red purple, beautiful cedar notes, cassis, black fruits, layers of fruit and tannin, great structure, beautiful
Thought this might have been French
Here are the wines as they were revealed
It was interesting that the wines seemed very even in terms of quality and winemaking, perhaps the Stag's Leap and the Ridge Monte Bello were a little less up there for me. but it was close. It was noted that a tasting some 40 years earlier would have been nowhere as even, perhaps a testament to the overall improvement in winemaking throughout the world.
With a show of hands, the top vote winners were the Jack Estate on five votes and the Leoville on four votes. The Leoville was my WOTT. Others got two and one votes. Certainly the Jack Estate was very impressive. In truth, most of us would have been perfectly happy to drink almost any of the wines. All in all, a great tasting as part of a very enjoyable weekend of wine and food events in Coonawarra. Really did show the overall quality of wines from all three regions, certainly Coonawarra was right up there.
