The Auswine Forum

Will give more detail later but highlights for me were:-

00A Chardonnay - I preferred to the Yattarna, but Y is a slow developer.

2003 Eden Riesling - very good.

2001 Cellar Reserve Pinot - not a Pinot lover but really enjoyed this wine.

2001 Bin 707 - Very good.

Granges - '97 Good.
- '98 Excellent.
- '99 drinking much better than the 98 at the moment. An excellent wine, maybe Caillard is right. Could not fault it.

Mike.

Mike

I thought the Reserve chard was rubbish and the pinot also. The pinot embarrasingly so!

The Grenache was a good example and the RWT superb.
Of the Granges, the 98 for me was a big in your face bomb but with all the hallmarks of grange (length, tannins etc), the 99 perfectly in balance but underdeveloped. I think it will be a classic. The 97 for mine was uninspiring and I actually liked the RWT better.

Vive le difference and I look forward to your detailed notes.

Ben

BenK wrote:Mike

I thought the Reserve chard was rubbish and the pinot also. The pinot embarrasingly so!

The Grenache was a good example and the RWT superb.
Of the Granges, the 98 for me was a big in your face bomb but with all the hallmarks of grange (length, tannins etc), the 99 perfectly in balance but underdeveloped. I think it will be a classic. The 97 for mine was uninspiring and I actually liked the RWT better.

Vive le difference and I look forward to your detailed notes.

Ben

Ditto apart from the '97 Grange which was I thought was showing VERY well. The 03 Riesling very good too.
GW

A great night. On my maths, it was about $150 dollars worth of wine and a free copy of the new Rewards of Patience all for $60. Can't beat that !

My views were:

The riesling was very good (but could have been colder)

The 2000A Chardonnay was glorious. Big and cuddly. Stunning chardonnay.

2001 Yattarna was very good, but needed time.

The Pinot was awful. Penfolds should give up on this wine.

The Grenache was a very good example of the style.

The 707 and the RWT were both excellent. Top class but value for money is a concern.

The 97 Grange was comparable in quality to the 707 and RWT.

The 98 Grange was truly exceptional. Easily the WOTN.

The 99 Grange was difficult to judge after the 98. The 99 is very refined and elegant, but lacked the wow factor.

A free copy of the rewards of patience was a nice surprise.

Guys,


Mike suggested the Yattarna is a slow developer; I havn't tried the 01 but every time I've had it (95,96,97&98) I've thought that it looked advanced for its age,both in colour and palate. My take on it is that if Penfolds are trying to make a classic white wine to rival the best White Burgundies,the wine needs to show a little more restraint in it's youth. Any thoughts? Like I said,I havn't tried the more recent vintages so I'm not sure how it has evolved in style over the past 3-4 years.

Cheers

A very interesting night. Grange did not impress me at all, even the 1998 vintage. It is a good wine don't get me wrong, but I don't believe it command the price tag. The 1997 was not not to standard.

The wine of the night is 2001 Bin 707.

Here is my impression

Reserve Bin Eden Valley Riesling 2003
Very light yellow/green. The nose is vibrant with apple and melon. On the palate it is a lighter style Riesling with high acidity. It is refreshing and with the amount of the acidity it has, it can go for a while..

Reserve Bin 00A chardonnay 2000
A very full bodied chardonnay with a very smokey taste. The smokiness of the wine did not impress me at all. Some may find it attractive, but for my palate, I don't like smokey/oaky chardonnay.

Yattarna Chardonnay 2001
A much lighter style and refined chardonnay than Bin 00A. Lemon, critus typical of cool climate chardonnay. very tight, needs some time to open up. Much better than the Bin 00A.

Cellar Reserve Pinot Noir 2001
This is a very tight wine, after few minutes of swiling in an attempt to open it up but failed. This wine is unbalanced, not my cup of tea

Cellar Reserve Grenache 2002
A very fruity style Grenache. Predominately Raspberry on the nose. It is like opening a packet of Alan's raspberry lollie bag. The palate pretty much followed the nose with raspberry tone. The tannins is chewy and dusty. An unusual Grenache, but I don't mind it

Bin 707 2001
This is the WOTN. It has a very distinct toffee, coffee aroma. The palate is powerful and round. The tannins is dusty and sweet. The finish is extremely long. This wine will live for a long time with the amount of fruit and tannins packed in the bottle. A very delicious and well made wine.

RWT Shiraz 2001
A very musclular wine but not as round and powerful as the 707. The palate is spicy with hint of cigar and tobacco. The tannin is fine and silky. A nice wine to drink now, but will hold for many years. This wine is second behind the Bin 707

Grange 1997
This wine did not excite me at all. Tasted last year and tasted again this year without any improvement. The nose is dull and flat that suggested a mild taint. This was comfirmed by 3 other people on the table. I tasted 5 different glasses of this wine and each glass showed differently. No notes.

Grange 1998
This wine is suppose to give you a WOW factor, but it failed to deliver that knock out punch. Please don't get me wrong this is a well made wine with lots of fruit, tannins and balanced acidity. The nose is filled with dark fruit and toasty american oak. The palate is full and round with tones of fresh fruit showing. The tannins is very fine grained and silky. The balance is there, but not totally intergrated as this is a very young grange. No doubt this will develop into a classic style of grange , but I found 1996 is a better grange than 1998 and personally I don't believe it is deserve and command the price tag. Give me 1996 and 1990 any day. For that price, I will buy 5 bottle of Bin 707 and RWT for a bottle of grange 1998 any day.

Grange 1999
A lighter style wine in grange's term only. The nose is filled with dark berry fruit. On the palate the tannins is very forward and in combination with the power of the fruit it is surprising harmonous. A very good grange