The Auswine Forum

[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=43192]NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - MEANT TO BE GRANGE - 360 Bar & Dining, Sydney (14/10/2019)[/url]

Was supposed to be a Grange theme, but after so many years most of us haven’t got much of the stuff left, and little of that ready to drink. At current prices back-filling vintages is a serious storage gamble, so you do the best you can. Which was still a night of nice wines…

• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005798]NV Charles Orban Champagne[/url] - France, Champagne
  [Glenn] {12%, cork} Smoky nose. A touch of cheese – somewhat developing. Then some custard, butter perhaps? Rich palate, with a lemon twist to the flavours. Not much yeast apparent here, despite the fleshy and maturing character. Seductive, fine texture; medium weight, dry, with small/medium creamy bubbles. Medium long finish. Decent but doesn’t quite prompt you to rush and buy more at the $50+ price.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005799]2018 Penfolds Chardonnay Bin 311[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Tumbarumba
  [Sian] {screwcap, 13%} After Yattarna and Bin A take their cut, the best of Penfolds chardy fruit ends up here. This has plenty of house oak, with vanilla and sandalwood aromas, some figs and cashews too (but that could be the oak too!) The palate is dry, with soft flowery flavours, a malo influence, lemon butter as well. Medium weight, low/medium acidity, but even though the finish is a little on the short side, the balance along the tongue is nice and even. Nice wine, but overshadowed by the following Bin A.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005800]2012 Penfolds Chardonnay Reserve Bin 12A[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
  [Aaron] {screwcap, 12.5%} Very light colour still even at seven years. Polished oak nose, a touch of matchstick, grapefruit, cool mango. The palate tastes of classy French oak-laced fruit, all wearing cool-climate clothes. Cedar grain adds tightness to the texture, with medium acid, medium/full weight; the structure dominates the fruit, even after seven years. Medium length finish, even palate; promises much development to come. Has an aura of quality about it. But wait a while.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005802]1980 Penfolds BIN 80A Coonawarra[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
  [Graeme] {cork, 12%} Half-soaked cork, which broke on extraction; double decant two hours before consumption. Level was just at the bottom of the neck. Penfolds’ first remake of the famous 1962 bottling: Coonawarra cabernet and Barossa shiraz. Fragrant, aged nose of soft old leather, with a bit of a cabernet accent, but never quite the cigar of Bordeaux. Seductive though. The palate is classic smeary old Australian red, in the Penfolds mould; leather and spice flavours, all tertiary, a mix of currant and spice, polished, smooth and lovely. I feared for some mustiness at first but it cleaned up with a bit of air; there are still medium powdery tannins, medium acid, with perhaps barely a touch of volatility. Silky medium weight, even if it is drying out just a little. The longer you tasted it, the better it got. As impressive as the old Granges, but with a slightly different accent. Can hold a while – with some risk – on this showing.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005803]1983 Penfolds Grange[/url] - Australia, South Australia
  [Gordon] {cork, 12.9%} What a lovely nose; roses, violets, gentle strawberries, with malt and chocolate. The palate is the perfect balance of fruit and power, in multiple dimensions. Sweet twist of shiraz fruit, with gentle spicy vanilla oak, but not intrusive. Medium-full weight, with medium powdery tannins. Medium acid. Could easily be mistaken for something half its age. Even palate, and long, long finish. Really, good bottles of this are nowhere near falling over. Had a double decant two hours earlier. Every bit as good as the Bin 80A, but with a more robust, exotic character. Fabulous wine.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005804]1989 Penfolds Grange[/url] - Australia, South Australia
  [Kim] {cork, 13.5%} The 89 SA vintage gets a lot of stick and deserves it, but here’s the thing; the 89 Grange is a great wine. Not typically Grange, but great in its own right. Yet again, this is brilliant, with wild red, almost tropical jammy fruit. Exotic spice, integrated oak (amongst the least oaky Granges, surely), plummy sweetness, low powdery tannins, medium/high acidity giving it a lively presence. Medium long finish, a tour-de-force of spiced ripe fruits and tangy structure of sweet oak remnants. Always a treat and as good as ever, despite the vintage. Drink up and enjoy!
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005805]1990 Penfolds Grange[/url] - Australia, South Australia
  [Greg] {cork, 13.5%} Relatively closed after the 80s examples, this is almost surly through its barrier of malt, dark chocolate, black fruit and plums. At almost thirty years old this remains vast and monolithic, with great balance of black fruit, medium dusty tannins, medium acid. Full-bodied but balanced, even and long; a huge wine with so many years ahead of it; seriously, this needs another decade. We decanted at the start of the meal; seems like it could take many hours in the glass jar. Still more promise than delivery, but at stratospheric levels!
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005807]1997 Penfolds Grange[/url] - Australia, South Australia
  [DavidH] {cork, 14%} A bit muted. Malt, earth and blueberries. Almost a touch anonymous – kind of silly that a 20-year-old could still be closed but there you go. This is nicely balanced on the palate, medium weight but still fairly blocky – it seems stuck in a kind of dumb phase somehow. Medium length finish. Hard to get hold of; seems like a long decant or more cellaring (or both) is in order. Although still I feel it’s not quite of a piece like the 90 is. Hold with some confidence I guess.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005808]2006 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
  [Aaron] {screwcap, 14%} Again! But always a pleasure to drink. Lots of spice. Violets, roses, raspberry. But spice, especially after the Granges. Silky-soft texture, low/medium powdery oak, medium acid, spicy fruit, lacey and even along the palate. Becomes quite peppery too after the dense Granges. Medium length finish. Cut from a different cloth than the preceding wines; this is lighter but deserving of more cellaring still.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005809]2007 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
  [DavidM] {screwcap, 14%} A shocking nose beside the 06; quite bretty and metallic. But also rotten somehow, like the inside of Jeffrey Dahmer’s refrigerator. On the palate is raw meat, and spice, and most of the transitory metallic elements of the periodic table. Hollow feel, with little mid-palate presence, low gritty tannins, medium weight, but in a patchy way. Very short finish. Very strange bottle indeed, but surely faulty in some way that’s beyond my skills to diagnose.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005810]2001 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707[/url] - Australia, South Australia
  [Geoffrey] {cork, 13.5%} Bottle 00951. Currant nose, with olives, tight coconut oak and a british racing green kind of aura. The palate is partly-developed, with some asparagus and glue, soft acid, but also sour and assertive fruit. A bit raw and disjointed. Medium-full weight, but offset by a real dip in the mid-palate. Medium powdery tannins. Seems like it will keep – almost forever – but will it come together and blossom? Feels like the fruit has had everything thrown at it in the winery in an attempt to overcome the odd-year-vintage-curse that lies on South Australia most of the time. Just not quite convincing by the standards of the label, although more time won’t hurt.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005811]NV Seppelt Shiraz Original Sparkling Great Western[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Great Western
  [Glenn] {cork, 13.5%} Blackberry aromas, resin and pine; odd sort of nose. Medium-large aggressive bubbles, medium weight, not sweet but lacks depth of flavour, despite obvious ripeness. All front-palate too. Feels like it’s made down to a price; it’s hardly likely to convert sceptics to the style.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=8005812]2017 Heggies Vineyard Riesling Botrytis[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
  [Glenn] {375ml, screwcap, 10%} Just as lovely as a recent bottle (last month?); this has a youthful nose of sweet lime juice, a steely character and a faint but generous apricot/botrytis aroma. The palate is all limpid limes and apples, botrytis just a subtle component adding an extra dimension to the watery texture, giving it a dancing sort of quality to its light/medium weight. About medium-dry for sweetness. Very riesling in character, and quite primary; it’s nicely balanced along the tongue, with a medium-length finish, but I doubt it has the acid to support long-term cellaring particularly. Enjoy soon.

cheers,
Graeme

Nice Graeme. How'd you prepare the Grange? I'm doing a vertical back to 71 next year.

Agree on backfilling. I bought a few from auction but only if recently out of the clinic. Been mentioned before, Grange can be a horrible risk on the secondary market.

Always wanted to but never did buy the 07 Mt Ed- has declassified HofG fruit in it?

Surely they wouldn't put HOG fruit in the Mt Ed as a single vineyard wine itself.

And thanks for the notes too Graeme. I've got a couple of older vintages of the Reserve Bin Chardonnay i need to get to.

Sorry they did make 07. Let me see if I can find a reference to a small portion of declassified fruit going into Mt Ed

83 Grange had a double-decant a couple of hours prior, the other three were open-decanted at the table; so ~60-90 minutes. I didn't see levels of corks on any of the Granges, only my Bin 80A as noted.

Nothing to stop Henschke putting HoG fruit into ME, of course; they're only trade names after all.
I doubt they would, considering the relative sizes of the vineyards anyway, but there's nothing to stop them.
Graeme

GraemeG wrote:83 Grange had a double-decant a couple of hours prior, the other three were open-decanted at the table; so ~60-90 minutes. I didn't see levels of corks on any of the Granges, only my Bin 80A as noted.

Nothing to stop Henschke putting HoG fruit into ME, of course; they're only trade names after all.
I doubt they would, considering the relative sizes of the vineyards anyway, but there's nothing to stop them.
Graeme

Nothing to stop the other way round either and strongly suspect that there are regular fruit exchanges between vineyards...why wouldn't they?
Cheers Craig

Well yes they could if they wanted to. Would just surprise me I guess, perhaps I’m naive, I would have thought they would keep the individual vineyard wines as just that.

Jamie, didnt mean to come across argumentative, no doubt you’re closer to the knowledge than I.

Will

No problems was a fair enough question. I'm trying to find out know where I heard of HofG fruit going into Mt Ed. Must have been the 2000 vintage. And probably from cellar door staff. It was a tiny amount of fruit from recollection.

I recall reading somewhere that there is replanting in the Hill of Grace Vineyard, often old vines that are no longer producing good fruit. Perhaps it is these younger vines, not sufficiently mature, that are used in other wines, de-classified if you will as Jamie has mentioned.

Willard wrote:Well yes they could if they wanted to. Would just surprise me I guess, perhaps I’m naive, I would have thought they would keep the individual vineyard wines as just that.

Jamie, didnt mean to come across argumentative, no doubt you’re closer to the knowledge than I.

Will

Also the cross vintage blending is something to consider. Current vintage barrels need topping. Could even be other varieties.

Not to put too fine a point on it but cross vintage blending is a different issue altogether, not related to HoG vineyard fruit going to other wines. However your idea about other varieties had me wondering so I went to the Henschke website. Apparently the HoG vineyard has riesling, semillon and mataro there, and since the HoG is a 100% shiraz wine the mataro must go somewhere else. Mount Edelstone is also 100% shiraz so not there either. Looking at all the red wines on their website it looks like three wines have mataro in them so it's anyone's guess. In the latest release of the following wines the mataro percentage of the blends are: Johan's Garden 31%, Henry's Seven 5%, and Five Shillings 30%.

Thanks Graeme,
haha, I might have to cut and paste your notes, then send to a few wine drinking buddies of mine. I 100% agree with you, the 89 Grange is a fabulous wine (and totally un-Grange like), I have none left, but the case I went thru were all stellar, for my taste, MUCH better than the 1990, which has never convinced me.
It is amazing that the perception of how a wine should be influences our actual tasting of the wine. I sadly never served the 89 blind, and the fact that it was meant to be an "ordinary" vintage almost always brought muted responses from the drinkers. Bit like the 72, which is also a fabulous wine that wasn't supposed to be much good.
I know my tastes have changed over the decades, but I am pretty sure i have seen every vintage of Grange this millennium, and have not really found love in any of them. The old (50's-early 70's) Granges, OTOH, masterpieces!!! I believe they need to find a truly brilliant winemaker to re-capture the magic, and it's been a long time since they have had that. Still, I'm not sure they care two hoots, Grange will trade on it's name for at least the next 30 years.

A very interesting discussion here on the Penfold's wines. I have a three-fold interest in reading Graeme's notes. His notes for the 1980 Bin 80A brings to mind a 1982 Bin 820, another Shiraz-Cabernet blend from the same era. It was an auction purchase by an importer friend of mine and he served it at a restaurant. It was magnificent, and unforgetable, simply the best Australian wine I've ever had. The nose was glorious and the finish long, lingering, and almost never ending. I hung onto the glass till almost the end of the evening and it was still singing. Graeme's note on the Bin 80A made me salivate as I remember the Bin 820.

The 1983 Grange is of interest to me because it is my only Grange, a bottle I've had since it was on the shelf here for C$62, and is still resting in my cellar. I have been waiting for it to mature for years, always hearing it was not ready and seeing Jeremy Oliver move the drinking window further and further away. Graeme's note, as nice as it is, suggests that it could use a bit more cellaring.

Regarding the 1989 Grange and how fine a wine it is considering the poor reputation of that vintage, my standard take has been that good producers make good wine every year and one should always consider them. Even I thought the 1989 was a weak vintage but this thread had me thinking that over the years I have had some experience with a handful of 1989 Penfold's wine.

First off, back in the late 80's when I was starting out on wine, on a ski trip to British Columbia, the clerk in the government liquor store talked me into buying a 1989 Bin 389. Later, in the early 90s, at a BBQ in Vancouver, a cousin brought a 1989 Koonunga Hill and I thought it was a pretty good wine and decided to cellar a couple of bottles. Then in 1995, when I was in Perth, I came across a few bottles of the 1989 Bin 28 Kalimna and was pleased to find a 6 year-old wine for less than A$15. It was a pretty tasty wine that had developed a hint of depth and richness without the glossy fruit of youth. I so wanted to go back to that wine store and buy some more before I had to leave but it wasn't nearby and I couldn't ask the people I was visiting to take me out of their way.

So three 1989 Penfold's wines, two tasted (Koonunga and Kalimna) and two cellared (Koonunga and Bin 389). The 1989 Koonunga Hill was opened in 2003, when it was 12 years old, and it was drinking beautifully. The person I served it to was a store manager and he said the '89 Koonunga Hill was better than any of the then recent release 1997 Bins that he had tasted from the Penfold's wine agent. I cannot recall when I opened the 1989 Bin 389 but it was maybe a year or two later. Again, it was drinking well and was appreciated by all. Now I don’t pretend to say that all these wines would be good today, but that in their own way, at the right time, they matured into something special.

So there we have it, and it seems to me that the Penfold’s 1989 wines were good all through their range, from the Koonunga Hill to the Grange. Now Grange we can all understand: the best grapes of the harvest, but surely it couldn’t have been that poor of vintage if the large production Koonunga Hill could drink so well more than a decade later.

We’re supposed to hold a 1989 Berlin Wall theme tasting sometime soon if things work out and I have been keeping an eye out for any 1989 wines in my collection. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a bottle of 1989 Lindeman’s ‘Limestone Ridge’ that I may have bought in London. I’ve placed it in a box along with a few other 1989 wines. I wasn’t confident about it being any good what with the reputation of the vintage but Graeme’s note on the Grange and the spurring of my recollections has me thinking that though it isn’t a Grange the Lindeman’s might have a chance of being a decent enough wine.

Thanks Graeme ...................... Mahmoud.

The only 1989 Penfolds I have had was the St Henri which I apparently drank on the 17th of April 2006. I do not recall it being particularly memorable but it was an auction buy so not necessarily representative.

Sorry to disappoint you but the grapes from the Hill of Grace vineyard have never made their way into another wine.

From Henschke

Must be getting old. I’d swear I was told otherwise in the 2000 vintage .

JamieBahrain wrote:Sorry to disappoint you but the grapes from the Hill of Grace vineyard have never made their way into another wine.

From Henschke

Must be getting old. I’d swear I was told otherwise in the 2000 vintage .

So are we all! Interesting answer from Henschke. It is quite emphatic and categorical, making me wonder what they do with their mataro, riesling and semillon, sell it off to other wineries?

Mahmoud Ali wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:Sorry to disappoint you but the grapes from the Hill of Grace vineyard have never made their way into another wine.

From Henschke

Must be getting old. I’d swear I was told otherwise in the 2000 vintage .

So are we all! Interesting answer from Henschke. It is quite emphatic and categorical, making me wonder what they do with their mataro, riesling and semillon, sell it off to other wineries?

Depends if the answer is from the marketing dept or the people who actually control the grading, blending and assemblage of the finished wine

Yes, that does sound very strange. There must be grapes that don't quite make the grade for HoG post-sorting, but are perfectly OK for Euphonium, for instance. I'd accept they wouldn't dilute another single vineyard wine (MtE, Tappa?), but I'd be surprised if the grapes were just discarded.
Post-triage below-standard grand crus normally finish up in the villages, surely?
Graeme

crusty2 wrote:

Mahmoud Ali wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:Sorry to disappoint you but the grapes from the Hill of Grace vineyard have never made their way into another wine.

From Henschke

Must be getting old. I’d swear I was told otherwise in the 2000 vintage .

So are we all! Interesting answer from Henschke. It is quite emphatic and categorical, making me wonder what they do with their mataro, riesling and semillon, sell it off to other wineries?

Depends if the answer is from the marketing dept or the people who actually control the grading, blending and assemblage of the finished wine

Almost certainly the "company line".

George Krashos wrote:

crusty2 wrote:

Mahmoud Ali wrote: So are we all! Interesting answer from Henschke. It is quite emphatic and categorical, making me wonder what they do with their mataro, riesling and semillon, sell it off to other wineries?

Depends if the answer is from the marketing dept or the people who actually control the grading, blending and assemblage of the finished wine

Almost certainly the "company line".

ooh I just spotted a pink pig flying through the sky...strange days indeed

Cheers Craig

Without pouring fuel on a fire...
Having a chat with a leading wine merchant in Adelaide today and he stated the 2019 production of HoG is a measly...'one barrel'. His words not mine .
I shall reserve judgement...in four years
Cheers craig

All sounds a bit implausible - they grow grapes in their most prestigious vineyard every year that are never ever made into wine?

Ian S wrote:All sounds a bit implausible - they grow grapes in their most prestigious vineyard every year that are never ever made into wine?

Ian, I very much agree, apart from 2000 and 2011, where wet weather kicked in, I can't see a vintage being made that would be so small in volume, simply doesn't make sense that there is that little fruit available. From what I can gather 2019 has been a very dry year.

I am going to a function at the same retailer next week and will ask again, but yes, there would have to be more than a single barrel on offer. I am tempted to ring the winery, I have a nephew who likes wine and his wife is due to have a baby any day now...was toying with the idea of getting a few special bottles from this year.
Cheers
Craig

phillisc wrote:

Ian S wrote:All sounds a bit implausible - they grow grapes in their most prestigious vineyard every year that are never ever made into wine?

Ian, I very much agree, apart from 2000 and 2011, where wet weather kicked in, I can't see a vintage being made that would be so small in volume, simply doesn't make sense that there is that little fruit available. From what I can gather 2019 has been a very dry year.

I am going to a function at the same retailer next week and will ask again, but yes, there would have to be more than a single barrel on offer. I am tempted to ring the winery, I have a nephew who likes wine and his wife is due to have a baby any day now...was toying with the idea of getting a few special bottles from this year.
Cheers
Craig

2019 was an extremely dry season Craig (2020 is shaping up the same). Depending on who you talk to and where, for vintage 2019, dry grown shiraz could have been anywhere from 30% to 70% down on average yields, the berries literally shrivelled up with light bunch weights. Volumes will be scarce from 2019 across the Barossa and other regions, but the intensity and quality of wines will be right up there. The Hill of Grace Vineyard has ~4ha of Shiraz, even at a tonne per ha, does not equate to a 'barrel', unless it is large format oak. Either way, the volume will be down for 2019 and 2020, a price rise to reflect the small volumes too?

Matt@5453 wrote:

phillisc wrote:

Ian S wrote:All sounds a bit implausible - they grow grapes in their most prestigious vineyard every year that are never ever made into wine?

Ian, I very much agree, apart from 2000 and 2011, where wet weather kicked in, I can't see a vintage being made that would be so small in volume, simply doesn't make sense that there is that little fruit available. From what I can gather 2019 has been a very dry year.

I am going to a function at the same retailer next week and will ask again, but yes, there would have to be more than a single barrel on offer. I am tempted to ring the winery, I have a nephew who likes wine and his wife is due to have a baby any day now...was toying with the idea of getting a few special bottles from this year.
Cheers
Craig

2019 was an extremely dry season Craig (2020 is shaping up the same). Depending on who you talk to and where, for vintage 2019, dry grown shiraz could have been anywhere from 30% to 70% down on average yields, the berries literally shrivelled up with light bunch weights. Volumes will be scarce from 2019 across the Barossa and other regions, but the intensity and quality of wines will be right up there. The Hill of Grace Vineyard has ~4ha of Shiraz, even at a tonne per ha, does not equate to a 'barrel', unless it is large format oak. Either way, the volume will be down for 2019 and 2020, a price rise to reflect the small volumes too?

Thanks Matt, was hopeful that you would chime in. Yes remember well when picking Marius earlier this year with Roger, that the bunch size for the 19 vintage was smaller than the 18.

With regards to the above, not that I am in the market for $900+ wines, but suspected it was dry, but not as dry as less than a hogshead or puncheon for just one wine. Will have to hope that Wendouree have enough of the 19 and 20 vintage, as that will be a very good fall back position, and I won't be gouged to the eyeballs when I order a few bottles.
Curiously, wonder if Stephen Henschke, (although its probably Justine who now sets the prices) has ever had a word with Tony Brady, suspect he could learn a thing or two about marketing...but probably doesn't care, and certainly doesn't need any encouragement for substantial price increases

Thanks for the vintage report.
Cheers Craig

phillisc wrote:

Matt@5453 wrote:

phillisc wrote:
Ian, I very much agree, apart from 2000 and 2011, where wet weather kicked in, I can't see a vintage being made that would be so small in volume, simply doesn't make sense that there is that little fruit available. From what I can gather 2019 has been a very dry year.

I am going to a function at the same retailer next week and will ask again, but yes, there would have to be more than a single barrel on offer. I am tempted to ring the winery, I have a nephew who likes wine and his wife is due to have a baby any day now...was toying with the idea of getting a few special bottles from this year.
Cheers
Craig

2019 was an extremely dry season Craig (2020 is shaping up the same). Depending on who you talk to and where, for vintage 2019, dry grown shiraz could have been anywhere from 30% to 70% down on average yields, the berries literally shrivelled up with light bunch weights. Volumes will be scarce from 2019 across the Barossa and other regions, but the intensity and quality of wines will be right up there. The Hill of Grace Vineyard has ~4ha of Shiraz, even at a tonne per ha, does not equate to a 'barrel', unless it is large format oak. Either way, the volume will be down for 2019 and 2020, a price rise to reflect the small volumes too?

Thanks Matt, was hopeful that you would chime in. Yes remember well when picking Marius earlier this year with Roger, that the bunch size for the 19 vintage was smaller than the 18.

With regards to the above, not that I am in the market for $900+ wines, but suspected it was dry, but not as dry as less than a hogshead or puncheon for just one wine. Will have to hope that Wendouree have enough of the 19 and 20 vintage, as that will be a very good fall back position, and I won't be gouged to the eyeballs when I order a few bottles.
Curiously, wonder if Stephen Henschke, (although its probably Justine who now sets the prices) has ever had a word with Tony Brady, suspect he could learn a thing or two about marketing...but probably doesn't care, and certainly doesn't need any encouragement for substantial price increases

Thanks for the vintage report.
Cheers Craig

Mac Vale 16 and 19 very similar. Complete contrast to 17 (bumper) and 18 not far behind. The difference between 17 and 19 was staggering in terms of fruit volume. My last CV visit the vintage feedback echos Matt's report with 50%-70% down from previous. Cue a coles jingle "Down, down, vintage was down!"

phillisc wrote:Curiously, wonder if Stephen Henschke, (although its probably Justine who now sets the prices) has ever had a word with Tony Brady, suspect he could learn a thing or two about marketing...but probably doesn't care, and certainly doesn't need any encouragement for substantial price increases

Cheers Craig

I would have thought it the other way around? Stephen could help Tony get his shiraz and cabernet up to Mt Ed and Cyril prices.

phillisc wrote:Will have to hope that Wendouree have enough of the 19 and 20 vintage, as that will be a very good fall back position, and I won't be gouged to the eyeballs when I order a few bottles.

For 2019, Lita mentioned they were slightly down on their normal tonnes, which are only small to start with anyway, not the large swings reported elsewhere. 2020 is anyone's guess at the minute.

phillisc wrote:Curiously, wonder if Stephen Henschke, (although its probably Justine who now sets the prices) has ever had a word with Tony Brady, suspect he could learn a thing or two about marketing...but probably doesn't care, and certainly doesn't need any encouragement for substantial price increases.

I should think that we pray Tony Brady never has "a word" with Stephen Henschke for fear that he will indeed learn a "thing or two about marketing".

Edit: I wrote this post immediately after reading the quote and did not see that Jamie had already expressed the same sentiment in much the same way.

By the way, regardless of vintage yields, the one thing not yet resolved regarding the Henschke statement that "grapes from the Hill of Grace vineyard have never made their way into another wine" is what happens to the young vine/replanted shiraz fruit in the HoG vineyard as well as the riesling, semillon and mataro fruit.

Also, this thread has morphed from Mostly Penfolds into Mostly Hensche!