Lakes Folly Vertical and Muse Hunter Weekend
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 9:20 pm
A great weekend away in the Hunter Valley for our tasting group. We’d always admired Lakes Folly Cabernets and its ability to age, and we thought wouldn’t it be great if we could do a vertical tasting of the Cabernets at the winery with the winemaker on hand… seemed like a pipe dream… until Greg said ‘Come on let’s do it!! At worst they can say no’. So after months of planning, organising, emails, phone calls etc, etc we had 4 x 3BR Villas booked at the Crowne Plaza. A selection of different vintages of the Cabernets from 1972 through to the current one and a booking with Muse Restaurant in their Private Dining Room – for 18 people. Huge thanks must go to Greg for his tireless work, even organising the nibbles for the tasting, breakfast provisions for the next day, and all the necessary bookings.
Huge thanks also to Peter and Roger of Lakes Folly for their time hosting us, setting up the fermentation room as they did, and being on hand to discuss all the wines, the whys, the hows of the various blends/treatment etc and all the vagaries of the vintages and how they affected the end result. It was really rewarding seeing them getting something out of it as well, as they don’t often get a chance to see so many vintages at once side by side (strange but true) they usually will only pull one vintage out to try and see how it is travelling. And they also kindly joined us for dinner and were really great sports the whole evening. Plus we were also able to surprise them with a 1975 Lakes Folly Maderia (one of Max Lakes Follies for sure), which was drinking really well.
Muse is a lovely space, the roaring fire sets off the room nicely. Our Somm/Waiter for the night, Boris, was tireless, always pouring, topping up, getting dishes out, explaining the dishes and any questions we had. Discussing the wines, making suggestions and even organising a special dish on the spot for our resident cheese-fearing member. Huge effort from him. The food was really good, very interesting, some great combinations, interesting textures, flavours, presentation. Not too over the top, good ingredients with a few twists (Black Garlic Ice-cream anyone?). The 70hr sous vide Wagyu was to die for. The duck moreish, and the truffled pecorino heaven - so many highlights and even the multiple amuse bouches coming out were all worthy of mention in their own right.
1972 – fully bricked, varnish, cedar, tobacco leaf, lots of acid on the palate, and with a bit of work in the mouth you could coax out some fruit. Lovely old drop.
1988 – sweet coconut on the nose, still quite vibrant, nicely integrated.
1989 – more acid and drive, bit of poo, little bit cleaner on the palate.
1993 – bigger and fuller palate, benefits from extra 12mths in oak, lots of structure and tannin still there. Really enjoyed this one.
1994 – similar vein, with a bit of funk on the nose, dark fruits.
1996 – WOTN for me, everything a great Bdx should be. Structure, balance, great length, lovely nose of plums, blackberry.
1997 – Touch disjointed compared to the 96, more structure, nice fruit still, may balance out yet given another 5 years.
After the 05 and 09 and later, I came to the conclusion that Follies really need 20 years to shine in good vintages.
2005 – This was raspberry dominant, reminded me of a Canberra style wine, lip smacking acidity. (a feature on all the later wines).
2009 – This seemed to be in a hole at the moment, I’ve had it before and don’t recall it being like this. So will put it down to bottle variation. Seemed to be neither here nor there.
2010 – Very young, and primary, black peppercorn, blackcurrant.
2011 – Fantastic wine, 2011 in the Hunter unlike most other regions was very good. This will be brilliant in 15 years.
2014 Under screw cap and cork – I was really surprised how different these were even at such a young age, even Peter was surprised. I preferred the screwcap version when I didn’t know which was which. (more aromatic lift) both are great wines.
2015 Barrel Sample – really fresh and primary, almost glowing a bright purple colour. Appreciate the chance to try it.
1975 Maderia – One for the trainspotters, drinking really well, rancio, marmalade, orange, quite fresh considering. A treat to drink.
HIramasa Kingfish, served raw (pickled and braised daikon, lotus root, lime, radish)
Cuttlefish and King Brown Mushroom 'Noodles' (sake and miso cream, local winter sorrels, ginger, ink wafer)
Milled Morpeth Sweetcorn (pinewood mushroom, black garlic, yolk, truffled sheeps' milk pecorino)
Redgate Farm Duck Leg and Swede Confit (smoked and cured breast, charred rapa leaf, nashi pear)
70 Hour Slow Cooked Wagyu (fenugreek and wakame, pearl barley, horseradish, eschallot, shitake)
Our Own Iced Semillon Verjuice (golden raisins)
Milk Chocolate Mousse, Black Garlic Ice Cream (warm chocolate brownie, cocoa jelly, caramelised white chocolate)
Huge thanks also to Peter and Roger of Lakes Folly for their time hosting us, setting up the fermentation room as they did, and being on hand to discuss all the wines, the whys, the hows of the various blends/treatment etc and all the vagaries of the vintages and how they affected the end result. It was really rewarding seeing them getting something out of it as well, as they don’t often get a chance to see so many vintages at once side by side (strange but true) they usually will only pull one vintage out to try and see how it is travelling. And they also kindly joined us for dinner and were really great sports the whole evening. Plus we were also able to surprise them with a 1975 Lakes Folly Maderia (one of Max Lakes Follies for sure), which was drinking really well.
Muse is a lovely space, the roaring fire sets off the room nicely. Our Somm/Waiter for the night, Boris, was tireless, always pouring, topping up, getting dishes out, explaining the dishes and any questions we had. Discussing the wines, making suggestions and even organising a special dish on the spot for our resident cheese-fearing member. Huge effort from him. The food was really good, very interesting, some great combinations, interesting textures, flavours, presentation. Not too over the top, good ingredients with a few twists (Black Garlic Ice-cream anyone?). The 70hr sous vide Wagyu was to die for. The duck moreish, and the truffled pecorino heaven - so many highlights and even the multiple amuse bouches coming out were all worthy of mention in their own right.
1972 – fully bricked, varnish, cedar, tobacco leaf, lots of acid on the palate, and with a bit of work in the mouth you could coax out some fruit. Lovely old drop.
1988 – sweet coconut on the nose, still quite vibrant, nicely integrated.
1989 – more acid and drive, bit of poo, little bit cleaner on the palate.
1993 – bigger and fuller palate, benefits from extra 12mths in oak, lots of structure and tannin still there. Really enjoyed this one.
1994 – similar vein, with a bit of funk on the nose, dark fruits.
1996 – WOTN for me, everything a great Bdx should be. Structure, balance, great length, lovely nose of plums, blackberry.
1997 – Touch disjointed compared to the 96, more structure, nice fruit still, may balance out yet given another 5 years.
After the 05 and 09 and later, I came to the conclusion that Follies really need 20 years to shine in good vintages.
2005 – This was raspberry dominant, reminded me of a Canberra style wine, lip smacking acidity. (a feature on all the later wines).
2009 – This seemed to be in a hole at the moment, I’ve had it before and don’t recall it being like this. So will put it down to bottle variation. Seemed to be neither here nor there.
2010 – Very young, and primary, black peppercorn, blackcurrant.
2011 – Fantastic wine, 2011 in the Hunter unlike most other regions was very good. This will be brilliant in 15 years.
2014 Under screw cap and cork – I was really surprised how different these were even at such a young age, even Peter was surprised. I preferred the screwcap version when I didn’t know which was which. (more aromatic lift) both are great wines.
2015 Barrel Sample – really fresh and primary, almost glowing a bright purple colour. Appreciate the chance to try it.
1975 Maderia – One for the trainspotters, drinking really well, rancio, marmalade, orange, quite fresh considering. A treat to drink.
HIramasa Kingfish, served raw (pickled and braised daikon, lotus root, lime, radish)
Cuttlefish and King Brown Mushroom 'Noodles' (sake and miso cream, local winter sorrels, ginger, ink wafer)
Milled Morpeth Sweetcorn (pinewood mushroom, black garlic, yolk, truffled sheeps' milk pecorino)
Redgate Farm Duck Leg and Swede Confit (smoked and cured breast, charred rapa leaf, nashi pear)
70 Hour Slow Cooked Wagyu (fenugreek and wakame, pearl barley, horseradish, eschallot, shitake)
Our Own Iced Semillon Verjuice (golden raisins)
Milk Chocolate Mousse, Black Garlic Ice Cream (warm chocolate brownie, cocoa jelly, caramelised white chocolate)
(she was doing some paperwork out the back and I asked a question the person at the counter couldn't answer so she got Sue)
Massive thanks to Greg for the huge efforts in making sure we all had a great weekend, and we sure did! The Folly tasting was a real highlight and it was great to see Roger and Peter having as much fun as we were. The wines were all super interesting - I'll put my opinions out there FWIW, for me the 72,88,89,93,94 run was so varied and contrasting. 
