Seppelt Trade Tasting
Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 8:30 am
Held at Treasury Casino in Brisbane on Wednesday. Four individual masterclasses, 100 year old Para,Evolution of the fortified style,Great Western and Rutherglen.
Seppelt/Southcorp did a great job,very professional with chief winemakers Arthur O'Connor and James Godfrey running the classes. The quality across the board of the Seppelt range is impressive.
100 YEAR OLD PARA PORT
Tasted a vertical going back to 1884. It was interesting to see that after about 40 years,the colour of the wines stay pretty much constant,only the intensity,alcohol,volatility and viscosity continues to evolve. Consequently,the descriptors one uses tend to be the same. Caramel, fruit cake, tea,plum pudding,toffee,chocolate,dried fruits. These are amazing wines, massively intense and multi layered. It was a great experience to try them in a format like this.
2004- Just fortified two weeks ago,but exhibiting lovely vibrant colour and balance. It was noted by James Godfrey that he now picks the fruit for the Para at lower baume than what the grapes for much of the table wine come in at.
1984- Mid development. Pronounced hazelnut aroma's,light rancio development,still needs time The oxidative process is only part way through,no point drinking this for another 20 years
1964- Full colour development, caramel,tea,toffee.
1944- Quite volatile,with Tar,chocolate and a slightly hard burnt tannin character. Probably the least balanced of the wines,but that is being picky.
1924- Really lovely,very balanced,clean,correct. Powerful and long.
1904- Concentrated,massively proportioned. Big rancio,fruit cake characters,quite volatile. The most powerful of all the wines,IMO.
1894- Now the viscosity becomes even more pronounced,literally sticking to the sides of the glass. More of the same,though perhaps these last two vintages are becoming a little too concentrated.
1884- Treacle like consistency,volatile,even the smallest amount explodes in the mouth and fills every corner. Some burnt characters, quite special though to taste this one
GREAT WESTERN
A quich run through of verticals of GW Shiraz and GW Show Sparkling.
Some of my favourite reds in the country for quality and value. We tried 84 through to 2003. The 84 was fully mature,leathery and lightly coloured. I thought the fruit was starting to fade a little,I would drink now. The 85 was showing a slight green bean character that was slightly distracting. The 93,developed and drinking well,the 95 lacking the intensity of other vintages,most notably the 97 alongside it. 97 is a big wine with power to burn,98 showing mulberry notes and high intensity,99 quite extracted with notable oak at this point in time. Didn't make a note on the 2000.
The Show Sparkling was quite interesting. The 85 did not show well( Arthur O'Connor thought it a bad bottle) with pronounced barnyard,bretty characters that were particularly unattractive. The brett notes were again obvious in the 91,though not as distracting or dominant. The 93 showed some green characters,but the pick is definately the 94,the best for many years and very powerful,balanced and persistent. Due to be released soon,I for one will be getting some,quite delicious.
Other highlights were the 64 Tokay.... actually there were heaps of highlights,the fortifieds are a national treasure,the DP 90 a superb port. Very educational and a great learning experience. Good stuff.
Cheers
Seppelt/Southcorp did a great job,very professional with chief winemakers Arthur O'Connor and James Godfrey running the classes. The quality across the board of the Seppelt range is impressive.
100 YEAR OLD PARA PORT
Tasted a vertical going back to 1884. It was interesting to see that after about 40 years,the colour of the wines stay pretty much constant,only the intensity,alcohol,volatility and viscosity continues to evolve. Consequently,the descriptors one uses tend to be the same. Caramel, fruit cake, tea,plum pudding,toffee,chocolate,dried fruits. These are amazing wines, massively intense and multi layered. It was a great experience to try them in a format like this.
2004- Just fortified two weeks ago,but exhibiting lovely vibrant colour and balance. It was noted by James Godfrey that he now picks the fruit for the Para at lower baume than what the grapes for much of the table wine come in at.
1984- Mid development. Pronounced hazelnut aroma's,light rancio development,still needs time The oxidative process is only part way through,no point drinking this for another 20 years
1964- Full colour development, caramel,tea,toffee.
1944- Quite volatile,with Tar,chocolate and a slightly hard burnt tannin character. Probably the least balanced of the wines,but that is being picky.
1924- Really lovely,very balanced,clean,correct. Powerful and long.
1904- Concentrated,massively proportioned. Big rancio,fruit cake characters,quite volatile. The most powerful of all the wines,IMO.
1894- Now the viscosity becomes even more pronounced,literally sticking to the sides of the glass. More of the same,though perhaps these last two vintages are becoming a little too concentrated.
1884- Treacle like consistency,volatile,even the smallest amount explodes in the mouth and fills every corner. Some burnt characters, quite special though to taste this one
GREAT WESTERN
A quich run through of verticals of GW Shiraz and GW Show Sparkling.
Some of my favourite reds in the country for quality and value. We tried 84 through to 2003. The 84 was fully mature,leathery and lightly coloured. I thought the fruit was starting to fade a little,I would drink now. The 85 was showing a slight green bean character that was slightly distracting. The 93,developed and drinking well,the 95 lacking the intensity of other vintages,most notably the 97 alongside it. 97 is a big wine with power to burn,98 showing mulberry notes and high intensity,99 quite extracted with notable oak at this point in time. Didn't make a note on the 2000.
The Show Sparkling was quite interesting. The 85 did not show well( Arthur O'Connor thought it a bad bottle) with pronounced barnyard,bretty characters that were particularly unattractive. The brett notes were again obvious in the 91,though not as distracting or dominant. The 93 showed some green characters,but the pick is definately the 94,the best for many years and very powerful,balanced and persistent. Due to be released soon,I for one will be getting some,quite delicious.
Other highlights were the 64 Tokay.... actually there were heaps of highlights,the fortifieds are a national treasure,the DP 90 a superb port. Very educational and a great learning experience. Good stuff.
Cheers
