The Auswine Forum

Been lax about posting notes. Rectification time.

[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=41936]NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - DECENT CHARDONNAY & PINOT - 360 Bar & Dining, Sydney (3/06/2019)[/url]

Most Rotters and some guests explore ‘non-cheap’ Chardonnay and Pinot, with no regional limits, although we didn’t exactly stretch our geographic boundaries. We drank the chardonnays old to young on grounds of weight, the pinots the reverse on grounds of complexity.

• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742754]NV Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut[/url] - France, Champagne
  {cork, 12.5%} [Geoffrey] Vivid nose of citrus, yeast and sourdough. A developing light/medium weight palate follows, with gentle lemon flavours, infused with lychee and paw-paw. Softly textured and youthful. Medium-sized but rather aggressive bubbles. Not much autolysis character, and it rather sits on the front palate, not to mention finishing nicely dry but a bit short for a French fizz of this price (~A$70-ish?). Has the sense of the marque pushing the boundaries of sur lie to keep the volumes up, even if quality suffers a bit. The punters won’t notice, eh?
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742758]2006 J. Moreau & Fils Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume[/url] - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
  {cork, 12%} [Graeme] Darkish colour, but not unreasonable. The nose is well-aged, smelling of honey, lanolin, sweat. But, hinting at disappointment… The palate is very mature browning, with barrel/cedar flavours, otherwise light for fruit flavours, with light/medium acidity, light/medium body, and a short/medium length finish dominated by dry nougat flavours and a sense that this has lost its ping somehow, whether from the vintage, the producer, the seal, or something. At any rate, over the hill on this tasting, if not otherwise faulty.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742764]2010 Paringa Estate Chardonnay The Paringa[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
  {screwcap, 14%} [Glenn] Lots of cashews, figs, nuts, oak on the developing nose. But buttery fruit too. The palate has lots of butter and oak too, in an old-fashioned style, but also with a bit of grapefruit flavour. It’s well-balanced along the tongue with even presence of flavour, medium acid, medium weight; for me it’s just a bit oak-dominant, although I should say not sweetly so; this is expensive french oak! Others at the table liked it better. Still, at peak now I reckon.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742765]2010 Stella Bella Chardonnay Serie Luminosa[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
  {screwcap, 13.5%} [Sian] Ooh, this is a classy wine. Mildly developed nose of cashew and sandalwood, grapefruit and white flowers. Even a touch of matchstick/minerality about it too. The palate thoroughly trumps the preceding Paringa wine, with a great balance of oak, white-fruit-derived flavours, on its way to evolving into a great older chardonnay. Medium acid adds freshness; it’s medium-bodied in weight with great overall balance and a medium/long dry finish. Drink over the next 3-5 years for best effect I think. Impressive.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742767]2014 Mount Mary Chardonnay[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
  {diam, 13.5%} [Gordon] Slightly subdued nose of matchstick and sour white-fruit. Closed. Not initially impressive. Needs air. The palate is all about structure, minerals, with a cerebral character and subtle sandalwood. Want overt fruit? – go elsewhere. This fills the mouth with texture, a hint of lemon flavour and an almost tangy quality to it. No malo here I think – and tastes like it. Medium/high acid, dry, medium weight palate, and a long, granular finish. This needs more time, and should blossom wonderfully. A triumph of a wine.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742768]2018 Giant Steps Chardonnay Sexton Vineyard[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
  {screwcap, 13%} [DavidH] Melon fruit, classy French oak, but mild and restrained in its overall aromas. The palate is quite steely, with sour grapefruit flavour, tart and acerbic. Polished but young. This is classy, with its medium acid, subtle oak and medium weight. A little heavy on the front palate relative to the rest of the tongue, but a pretty classy offering none-the-less; this seems to have the goods to improve over the next five years or so.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742769]2017 Coal Pit Pinot Noir Tiwha[/url] - New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago
  {screwcap, 13%} [Kim] Polished mulberry nose, compost and cedar oak, but always soft and friendly. The palate jars; it’s oddly confected, with liquorice and blue fruit flavours mixed with chocolate. Seems to have the goods but sits a bit on the front palate. Medium weight and low/medium dusty tannins make up the structure, with medium acidity, and all pitch in to a medium-length finish. But the overwhelming impression is of a wine too young. Give it a few years.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742771]2014 Mount Mary Pinot Noir[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
  {diam, 12.8%} [Gordon] Soft brown leaves, with a meaty character. But all about seduction, and softness. The palate is about medium weight, and is quite vivid, with lifted but drying red cherry fruit; tricky to pin down for a range of flavours, but overwhelmingly dry and savoury. Low/medium dusty tannins, but oak isn’t especially obvious. Seems very much like a wine in between youth and age. Seductive, but promises much development still to come. Gosh, I really think we’ve drunk this at an awkward stage somehow; not that it’s unappealing, just that a moments reflection makes you realise how much more there is to come.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742772]2012 Whisson Lakes Pinot Noir Piccadilly Valley[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Piccadilly Valley
  {diam, 13.5%} [Stephen] Thought this was American, just looking at it for some reason. And the wine plays along with the gag, with its malt and chocolate nose – not especially varietal, but pleasant all the same – and hefty bruiser of a palate, with low/medium dusty tannins, soft acid, voluptuous warm fruit, and a furry accent. Manages to finish a bit hollow somehow; and intriguing wine, but with flaws obvious in many ways. Will keep, but just change its disjointed ways as it ages.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742775]2000 Domaine A Pinot Noir[/url] - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
  {cork, 13.5%} [Graeme] You wouldn’t pick this as pinot, you really wouldn’t. The nose is well-developed, but all meat and musk. The palate has mature mint characters, a choco-berry twist, low/medium acid, low/medium powdery tannins, little overt oak, and a medium length finish of some interest but no pinot character at all. If you like furry peppermint then fabulous; it’s fairly even and well-structured. And mature too. Drinkable and interesting, sure. But very much a wine from the sideshow alley world of the grape, on the whole.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742781]2014 Brown Brothers Riesling Patricia Noble[/url] - Australia, Victoria
  {375ml, screwcap} [Geoffrey] Decadent apricot, botrytis aromas. Aged honeyed nose. Has a lovely translucence, a certain lightness, helped by medium-level acidity and sweetness balanced together. The medium-weight palate is a bit scatty; less syrupy than the following Noble One, but I think ultimately more satisfying and balanced. Medium-dry, so just controlled enough to give a uniform sense of proper wine. Conveys varietal characteristics well I think.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7742783]2016 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Sémillon[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina
  {375ml, screwcap, 10.5%} [Geoffrey] Vanilla bean nose, with sweet apricots on the nose. Glassy apricot flavours, but vanilla bean dominates. Medium sweet in the Noble One tradition, and medium weight; the medium level acidity can’t quite keep it from tasting a bit simple overall, despite a medium length finish. Age doesn’t really add complexity to 21st century Noble One from my experience, just a gentle patina which isn’t really worth the sacrifice of the vigour of youth.

Interesting night, with wines mostly new to us, which is always an eye-opener.

Welcome back, Graeme. Always enjoy your notes.

I second that, adding that the only wine among these that I have had is the Noble One, the last one being the 2006 a few weeks ago. It wasn't simple, ratther big, rich and full, but was also not one for long cellaring.

Cheers ................. Mahmoud.