The Auswine Forum

About now someone usually starts this thread...so here it is.

What was / is your wine of 2019? Do it in categories or give it a top 5 if you prefer - no one listens to any rules on these things anyway.

There was Cerbaiona, Soldera, Giacomo Conterno. There was Leroy Genaivrieres and Beaux Monts with a DRC GE thrown in. A 53 Massandra. More than one Montrachet. Heaps of JJ Prum.

But the 2004 Vietti Villero would go close for me.

Cheers
Andrew

I've got a couple wine dinners coming up before XMas where I expect my current WOTY's will be trumped, so I'll report back in a couple weeks.

Honourable mentions;
2017 Yabby Lake Pinot Noir
2018 Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay
2018 Riesling freak #10
2014 Marius Simpatico Shiraz
2010 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro
2015 Dom Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée

WOTY is 2015 Mount Mary Pinot Noir.

Becoming a parent has meant that this has been a lean year for me. However looking back over my tasting notes and scores these are mine:

White: 2014 Hardys Riesling HRB D659
Red: 2010 Torbreck Descendant Shiraz

Honourable mentions: 2016 Symphony Hill Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, 2018 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir, 2017 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Prelude

I think for me it was a 2011 Rockford Rifle Range. Absolutely loved it, my wife enjoyed it too and she's more into Grenache than Cab Sauv. It was closely followed by a 2009 Tyrrell's 4 Acres Shiraz.

Redav wrote:I think for me it was a 2011 Rockford Rifle Range. Absolutely loved it, my wife enjoyed it too and she's more into Grenache than Cab Sauv. It was closely followed by a 2009 Tyrrell's 4 Acres Shiraz.

The 2011 Rockford Rifle Range was my introduction to Rockford. My wife and I shared it for our first anniversary in September 2018. I loved it so much that I signed up to their mailing list.

This is already a fascinating read.
2017 Yabby Lake Pinot - love that wine.
A Queensland red getting a mention - wow!
2011 Rifle Range - from a year described by many as terrible. That's the thing about wine - I think it was in the Verticals thread my favourite Felton Road Pinots are from the years widely regarded as poor.

Wizz a very light year, Parker Estate first Growth, '04 and 10 were excellent
A bottle of 08 Pol Roger Winston Churchill was a treat

Very lean indeed
Cheers
Craig

The only 2 5* ratings I recorded this years we’re for the 76 and 82 Black Label at Cons mega tasting a a few months ago.

Wines of the year are not always the ones with the highest rating though, and my favourite wine this year is the 2017 Express Winemakers Chenin Blanc, from Mount Barker, closely followed by the 18 Terrason Aligote.

The Chenin, shows just how great low alcohol wines can be, with10.5% alcohol and round, mouth filling, Demi-sec feel.

I loved the Terrason Gamay and Cab. Franc, but it’s the Aligote that bought the most of. Novelty factor pumps up the score, but it’s another lemon infused, lean, Yarra Chardonnay style wine. Yum

Three of my WOTY this year from the one night!!

1. 1999 DRC Romanee Conti
certainly amongst the best three wines I have ever seen. Not worth the current price, that is totally absurd, but believe the hype with this wine. A truly amazing vinous experience.

2. 1989 Chateau Haut Brion
a perfect Bordeaux, and a perennial favourite with my wine group.

3. 1999 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze
absolutely stunning in it's purity and complexity. Side-by-side with the Rousseau Chambertin from the same vintage, this was clearly the better wine (as it usually is)

4. 2007 Bouchard Pere et Fils Corton Charlemagne
the "bolter" in the pack, this was shockingly good, probably the best CC I have seen. Incredible surprise.

5. 1999 DRC La Tache
normally you would go into histrionics with this wine, but we saw it next to the RC from the same vintage, and it was humbled. Still, in it's own right, this is an ethereal wine.

I don't have the wedge for DRC ( tried it twice and yes, it's good). My buying is under $200 with a $50-100 sweet spot.

I thought this year was interesting with a big come back from the Big Boy wineries! I haven't bought Penfolds in nearly a decade.

1st Place - 2017 Soul Growers Persistance Grenache
2nd Place - 2016 Penfolds St Henri / 2017 Bass Phillip 17K Backyard Pinot Noir
3rd Pace - 2016 DR BURKLIN-WOLF Wachenheimer Altenburg PC Riesling
Honorable mentions to Wynns O'Deas Cabernet, Standish Schubert Thoerem, Greenock Creek Apricot Block, 2017 Mount Mary Quintet.
Best Kiwi - again Prophets Rock Cuvee Antipodes close runner up Kumeu River
Best Italy - Anything Elio Altare
Best French - Francois Lumpp, Givry a Vigne Rouge 1er Cru

1998 Stanton & Killeen VP- Rich, complex and finishing dry and smooth on the finish. I’d had probably 15-20 Australian VP’s at various ages prior to this, but nothing anywhere near as good, or as balanced. I was talking to the owners a few weeks later who said they changed over to using all traditional Portuguese varieties, as opposed to Shiraz, in the mid 90’s, which I expect is the difference.

Special mention:
2010 Forest Hill Cabernet Sauvignon- still got years left, but beautiful wine.

There have been lots of wine events this year, Barossa, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Mornington and Yarra Valley trips, wine tasting groups, dinners, all sorts. Despite lots of great burgundies and a raft of other varieties, I'll narrow it down to three wines for me, a white and two reds, with the last red taking out WOTY for me

'06 Romney Park Reserve Chardonnay - still in perfect nick, lovely citrus notes, great structure

The two reds are both birth year wines, one for grb2001 and one for myself

'58 Ch Meyney - in outstanding nick for a wine that is 61 years old, just a wonderful old Bordeaux and a great surprise from a lesser chateau

'54 Wynns Cabernet - this was the first vintage of what became an Australian wine icon as the Black Label, even though this vintage actually had a white label (now off white - see my avatar ). Still in excellent nick, surprisingly some vestiges of fruit, then old leather, mocha, a glorious wine to savour in the glass. 65 years old! Here is what it looked like

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/HL4sxMwZ/IMG-4699.jpg[/img]

The '54 Wynn's looks lovely, as does your description. Thanks ................... Mahmoud.

Just a couple of discoveries. The discovery being the excitement
Bulles de Miniere - a Loire valley sparkling red, from Cabernet Franc. Opened for a picnic on the beach. It fitted the brief for a picnic wine, being appetising and refreshing, but there was pleasing tannic grip, good balance and more complexity that you might expect.

aged Soalheiro vinho verde Vinho verde had a reputation for being battery acid. More recent commercial examples have softened (perhaps too much), but the standard label with ~ a decade on it, can be a revelation in a similar manner to Hunter Semillon. I will try other producers that are aiming for similar standards and none are pricing themselves out of a market.

Ozzie W wrote:I've got a couple wine dinners coming up before XMas where I expect my current WOTY's will be trumped, so I'll report back in a couple weeks.

Here's my top 5 for the year, broken down into local and overseas wines.

Aussie Wines
1939 Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny
1982 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
1992 Mount Mary Merlot
1996 Seppelt Cabernet Sauvignon Dorrien Vineyard
2005 Best's Great Western Shiraz Thomson Family

Overseas Wines
1996 Domaine Jean Grivot Clos Vougeot
1988 Château Léoville Las Cases
2003 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus
2003 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin
2004 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil

What a year of tasting! I managed to go through, in no special order, these ones that I remembered to make notes:
2001 Terra d'Oro - midpalate mostly
2001 JJHahn 1914 Shiraz - concentrated flavour, fine well aged, lots to go yet
2001 Castello Omitario - still lots of tannins, still powerful
1999 HOG - As plentiful as ever
1999 Wolf Blass Platinum - big nose but getting lean, still nice
Vertical of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1998 to 2005 range - marvellous taste, flavour but in the end not much variation between vintages.
2008 Tahbilk 1927 Marsanne - still very youthful in colour and very youthful in taste, long finish but lacks development, perhaps stored all its time vertically. (See my notes in wine ageing)
2000 Montes Folly Syrah - very much Rhone style, lovely but lean
2006 Fox Creek Reserve - tight, lean, spicy, not fully developed?
2000 Haan Shiraz Supreme - still looked young, but has secondary development galore
After all that (and many more that I forget to make notes!) my WOTY is the 2006 Wirra Wirra Chook Block. What an enjoyable wine, oh so mouth filling, oh so velvety, oh what finish.
Well, that will give another huge dilemma. The year is not ending yet, there is still time to try to better that. What else, I think our Xmas dinner will be accompanied by a 2002 Chook Block!
Cheers ...Dac.

1996 Bests Thompson Family Shiraz,
1996 Pol Roger Winston Churchill.

My single, treasured bottle of 91 Wynns Centenary hit the heights this year. Simply superb. Honourable mentions to the 90 MM Quintet, 76 Wendouree VP, 06 Faiveley Latricieres-Chambertin and the 12 Foundi Estate Xinomavro.

My wine of the year was one I shared today, 2006 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay. Powerful yet beguiling, fruity yet showing great complexity, at its peak but should hold for a while yet. While bother with white burgundy when you can get something this good for half the price.

Surprisingly I only have a few Brunello’s a year but they seem to come up in my wine of the year regularly.

This year it was the 1985 Biondi Santi Riserva, this had amazing perfume and clarity for the age.

A close second I think was the 1996 Salon that just piped the 2004 Krug Clos du Mesnil for drinking now, I think the Salon has softened out and drinking well.

Cheers Con.

By category:

Red Bdx: 1998 Vieux Chateau Certan: Magic in a bottle, epitome of Merlot, mature but hold long plateau
Sauternes: 1983 Yquem: fully mature and finally the true Yquem magic moment, a knockout
Red Burg: 2007 Rousseau Chambertin followed closely by 2002 Mugnier Les Fuees. Both etheral and full of life. Rousseau deeper and more profound
White Burg: 2010 Pierre Yves Colin Morey Chevakuer Montrachet: wonderful deep and long and powerful
Red Rhone: 1988 Chave Hermitage: just pumping red fruits and energy and length, such a powerhouse
Champagne: 2000 Krug, mature but fully of lemony brioche notes and and an endless finish
Italy: 2001 Sandrone Le Vigne: decanted for 12 hours and absolutely delicious and ready. Full of fruit and power and yet refined.
Aussie: 1995 Wendouree Cab Sav: approaching maturity and lovely complexity and length, earthy savoury notes
Kiwi: 2014 Bell Hill Pinot Noir: Considered overrated by many but wow such complexity and depth from a NZ pinot.

Brodie

brodie wrote:By category:


Kiwi: 2014 Bell Hill Pinot Noir: Considered overrated by many but wow such complexity and depth from a NZ pinot.

Brodie

The 2006 was amazing. I tried the 2014 and 2015 this year and was underwhelmed

Maybe not the best wine, but the wine I enjoyed the most this year would be the Sami Odi Little Wine #3. Just a wonderful easy drinking, but still complex, Shiraz. The bottle was gone so quickly, I thought I must have spilt some from the bottle! That's as big a compliment that I can pay a wine.

2016 Standish Lamella would be the Red Wine of the Year for me though. What a beautiful wine. I normally much prefer aged reds, but this was nothing short of stunning.

2017 Hoddles Creek Road Block Chardonnay was also extremely impressive as well and White Wine of the Year for me.

Cheers
Ian

No doubt a result of a trip to Italy this year. The Poliziano Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano Asinone of various vintages, consumed in Montepulciano. There's a 2003 in the cellar, amongst others, as a result. The standard model is a good wine too, around $30 a bottle in Italy (and $70 here )

Best Sparkling/Champagne
2004 Krug Clos du Mesnil

Best Foreign Red
1988 Chateau Leoville Las Cases

Best Foreign White
2013 Domaine Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Best Aust Red
1982 Wynns Coonawarra Black Label

Best Aust White
2014 Giaconda Estate Chardonnay

Best Fortified
1933 Seppeltsfield Para Liqueur

So many honorable mentions:
2001 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato
2008 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia
2010 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Barolo Acclivi Verduno
1994 Sepplet Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz
1947 Seppeltsfield Para Liqueur
1985 Gould Campbell Vintage Port
2006 Mount Mary Triolet
1978 Hardy's 125th Anniversary VP

Best wine was 1982 Taittinger Comtes, with the runners up being..

1996 Taittinger Comtes
1985 Trimbach Cuvée Frederic Emile
1976 Wynn’s Cabernet
1990 Rockford Basket Press

My 2019 wines of the year:

Red: 1981 Monte Real Reserva, Rioja
White: 2009 Moreau Chablis ‘Vaillon’, Burgundy
Budget Red: 2016 Gabriel Meffre ‘Homage’ Cotes du Rhone
Budget White/Rose: 2016 Santa Rita Limited Release Rosé, Chile
Rosé: 1998 Charles Melton ‘Rose of Virginia’ Rosé, Barossa
Sparkling: 1998 Schramsberg ‘J. Schram’, Napa
Sweet: 1984 Mas Amiel ‘Cuvee Special’ Maury
Fortified: N/V Lindeman’s Show Reserve Oloroso Z273, Australia
Special Thing: 20 year-old wines – 1999 Portale, Donnafugata ‘Sedara’, and Lesec Pic Saint Loup ‘Tonneaux’

This year a number of my early cellaring efforts paid off as they came of age. My runner-up red, the 1985 Chateau Mouton Baronne Philippe ‘Homage a Pauline’ was very good, but the fragrance, elegance, and lingering finish of an aged Rioja was hard to beat. The Moreau ‘Vaillon’ just edged the exotic 2009 Greywacke Chardonnay. The 1998 Melton Rose of Virginia was a remarkable 20 year-old rose, looking and tasting like a light red instead of a rose. Two 1998 sparklings vied for the honours but the ’98 Schramsberg belied its age, the high chardonnay content making it a blanc de blanc look-alike giving it the nod over the fully mature 1998 Pol Roger. The Lindeman’s Oloroso, a blend of components with an average age of 30 years at the time of bottling, with its intensity, depth and length, could easily have vied for WOTY. My budget red reflected the quality of the ’16 vintage. Meanwhile reds from 1999 that I bought many years ago and that are now 20 years old have really given me pleasure.

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

Mahmoud Ali wrote: Rosé: 1998 Charles Melton ‘Rose of Virginia’ Rosé, Barossa

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

Mahmoud, I know you love your wines with more than a little age on them, but a 21-year-old Rose?

You have surpassed yourself.

Cheers

Michael

PS as text is tone deaf - I am NOT having a go at you - just expressing amazement. Vive le difference!

Michael,

No worries, I would not have taken it the wrong way.

In case you missed my post from last year this is my note on the bottle I opened at my partner-in-crime's birthday and the reason why I cellared it so long:

1998 Charles Melton 'Rose of Virginia', Barossa (12%) - this was so dark-hued that my friends said they would not have guessed it to be a rose. Indeed, over the years this has gotten darker. This rose is made of grenache and cabernet, it was so vinuously firm and powerful that one person thought it might be a mourvedre rose from Bandol, France; meanwhile the other half guessed Australian, and that it might be a cabernet rose. When I asked her why she thought it was Australian she said it reminded her of the Rose of Virginia. Bingo! I think She's a keeper. This rose is in such good shape it has almost turned into a red wine, strawberry scented, herbal and mineral notes, and a dry, savoury finish with good acidity to keep it fresh. A 21 year-old rose and a standout! Why keep it so long? Every one of the half dozen bottles I have drunk over the years has been fresh, tasty, and in no danger of falling over. Eventually I needed to see if it would get to the 20-year mark in one piece.
[I pulled it out of the cellar last year for the two decade mark and it had been in the fridge for most of my summer and for some reason an occasion never came up. Then it came out (edit - of the fridge) for the winter. This was a belated birthday dinner for the one I'm going to keep and when it came time to open it I noticed that the cork was starting to protude which was a worry. However it came out easily and all in one piece, and moist to the top except for the protruding part. The cork is clearly a good one and it has the winery name and logo stamped on it.]

PS: We carefully poured two small glasses from the unstoppered bottle of the Charles Melton rose the next evening and it was still drinking well: lighty red-fruited, dry, and with a savoury edge. It confirms for me that Melton's rose is truely one of Australia's finest rose (on both of my visits to cellar door he has been sold out of the rose). Every bottle of the '98 has been superb since the day we found a half dozen bottles in the outside fridge of an Adelaide [Edit: I'm sorry, it was in McLaren Vale] drive-through bottle shop back in 2001, from the first bottle on a picnic table in the local campground where we were staying right through to this last bottle (sigh!).

The full post and pictures: http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f ... ia#p155659

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