[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=46425]NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - REDS AT 10 20 30 - Fix, St James, Sydney (5/05/2021)[/url]
May’s theme was broadly scoped but narrowly focused: a red wine from 2011, 2001, 1991. They were all antipodean in the end, and what a mixed collection they were, albeit with a Bordeaux + shiraz grape focus.
- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151886]2011 Gardet Champagne Premier Cru Rosé de Saignée Brut[/url] - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru
{cork, 12%} [Greg] Bright orange/pink. Vivid nose of strawberry, creaming soda and a touch of ribena. The palate is dry, light-bodied, with medium sized creamy bubbles and gentle strawberry flavours. Low-key all round though, and with a short/medium length finish. Not so exciting. At ten years I think it’s ready to drink. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151887]2001 Amberley Estate Shiraz First Selection[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
{cork, 14%} [Geoffrey] Well-developed nose with aged blackberry fruit and lashings of American oak – it’s quite the coconut-fest. The palate has a soft, furry texture, rather Rioja-like in style. Aged brambly and black fruit, plus soft old oak. Medium dusty tannins, medium acidity. Finish on the shorter side too. Pleasant enough but in decline now. Weird label – looks like a printing error that no-one picked up. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151888]2001 Grant Burge Cabernet Sauvignon Shadrach[/url] - Australia, South Australia
{cork, 13.5%} [Stephen] A mix of Coonawarra, Barossa and Adelaide Hills fruit. Seems to have been about the end of the line for this sourcing; after a void 2003 vintage Shadrach returned from 2004 as all-Barossa. Developing chocolate and currant nose. American oak too, but not over the top. Palate is a bit syrupy in texture, with fading acidity and low powdery tannins. The sheer fruit weight – currants and blackberries supported by sweet vanilla oak – is what carries it, but it fades out a bit on the mid and back-palate, despite a medium length finish. Gentle old Oz cabernet at twenty, but not going anywhere now. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151889]2011 Craggy Range Sophia[/url] - New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels
{cork, 13.5%} [DavidH] Merlot 60%, Cab Sav 24%, Franc 14.5% and PV the remaining 2.5%. I always though Sophia to be a Merlot/CF blend. Cabernet’s irresistible call, I guess. Garnet with a purple touch. Developing nose of soft plums and red-fruit spectrum aromas. Subtle french oak too – discreet. Very seductively handing between youthful and maturing. The palate is wonderfully balanced, even and polished, with ripe plum fruit, fine medium chalky tannins, medium acidity and medium weight. The medium/long finish is evenly balanced along the tongue and surprisingly astringent. I hope the fruit holds up here because this seems like it has another decade of majestic aging in front of it. Really impressive. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151891]2011 Penfolds Shiraz RWT[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
{screwcap, 14.5%} [DavidM] Ruby red. Spicy, slightly peppery nose, with blue-tinged fruit. Polished and decorative. No sign of the wet-vintage rot from the infamous 2011 year. The palate is a mouthful of gentle cedar and blueberry fruit, disguising its alcohol well, medium/full bodied, with medium dusty tannins and medium acidity. Does rather sit on the tip of the tongue – there’s not the mid-palate richness you’d expect. But then it’s a fine save from a bad year. Medium length finish. No point in cellaring further, but this was very drinkable. Does make me think the 2011 Penfolds reds lower down the hierarchy in 2011 must be pretty dire though! - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151892]2011 Houghton Cabernet Sauvignon Jack Mann[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Frankland River
{screwcap, 14%} [Glenn+guest] We started out with two bottles; Stephen subbed one with his back-up. Deep ruby in colour. Developing nose of blackcurrent with a subtle cigar hint; seemingly restrained and even austere after the RWT shiraz. Dense palate, moving away from youth certainly, but only a little. A bit monolithic at the moment with its concentrated, almost syrupy essence of black berry flavours. Medium/full weight, medium chalky tannins. Fairly intense on the palate, but the mid-palate dip isn’t so convincing and leaves the medium length finish seeming a bit patchy. Still, I think this is more in an awkward phase than anything, even at ten years. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151893]2011 Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
{screwcap, 14.5%} [Stephen/sub] Dark ruby/garnet. Developing nose of blackcurrant, black olive, cedar oak, buried herbs. Rich black fruit on the palate, with much less green tree or twig than the nose teased at. Ticks all the medium boxes for acid, weight, chalky tannins; has a polished character to it and there’s real sophistication here. Even palate, if a bit straightforward just now. Medium length, even finish, nicely balanced despite the alcohol level. This really begs for more time. Best MR cab I’ve had in a while I must say. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151896]1991 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Centenary[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
{cork, 12.5%} [Graeme] Double-decanted two hours earlier. Level still slightly into the neck, but with a tiny vein of wine up the side of the cork and a little ancient flaky wine under the capsule. I surmise that happened right at bottling and then the seal was maintained. I’ve had this in the cellar since 1997 and the level never moved. Aged garnet colour, but not too orange. Classic aged nose of leathery old red, spice, generic aged red berry. Plenty of aged oak too; this was getting to around ‘peak-oak’ for Wynns, and it’s pleasant but not especially complex. The palate has faded red fruit too, with a gently chalky tannin astringency, medium-bodied weight, nicely ripe but not baked. It’s very plesasant, especially for 30 years old, but perhaps a bit prosaic. Medium length finish. Seems like it will still hold a while but there’s no more complexity to come. Would have been better with a bit less oak. Possibly judged a bit harshly as it was comprehensively overshadowed by the following 91 Grange. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151895]1991 Penfolds Grange[/url] - Australia, South Australia
{cork, 13.5%} [Gordon] Barossa and McLaren Vale this vintage, with 5% cabernet. Double-decanted two hours earlier. Still an opaque ruby colour. Deep blueberry fruit, chocolate coated. Liquorice, tar; warm and seductive. But still very youthful for thirty. Seems younger still on the consistent-with-the-aromas palate, with black essences too, medium/full weight, medium dusty tannins; powerful and rich texture but always polished. A class act that will happily age further; it’s far from fully mature. Super-even palate, long finish. A triumph in every respect. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9151897]2001 McWilliam's 1877 Cabernet Shiraz[/url] - Australia, South Eastern
{cork, 14%} [Graeme] Cuvee Kenworth; a semi-trailer blend. Cabernet and shiraz from Coonawarra, Yarra, Hilltops. Well-aged nose and palate. Leather, malt, vanilla. Slightly muddy-tinged red fruit on the medium-bodied palate. A bit generic and forgettable in flavour, which is to say not bad, but not distinctive; still pleasant enough. Low/medium dusty tannins, but much of the flavour sits on the front of the tongue, which tends to shorten the finish. Just picking up the tiniest hint of volatility with air too. Probably past peak drinking.
And a novelty spirit:
nv Bosch Ratafia (Spain) {200ml, cork, 28%} [Greg]
A herbal concotion. Camphor, basil, gluwein. Medium-sweet palate with lowish acididy. A viscous mix of insect repellent and motor oil with an aniseed twist. Warmly alcoholic finish. Drink which watching the bullfight.