The Auswine Forum

[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=47520]NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - BAROSSA OLD VINE - Fix, St James, Sydney (3/11/2021)[/url]

A very specific theme stands for this post-COVID dinner – Barossa Old Vines. It was mostly met, at least in spirit. We were eight, with two Rotters waylaid by recalcitrant clients &/or business partners.

• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461452]NV Laurent-Perrier Champagne La Cuvée[/url] - France, Champagne
  {cork, 12%} [Stephen] Grand, classic nose of bread and yeast. Mild yellow fruit. Fresh and vigorous palate, with medium-sized, quite aggressive bubbles. Mild rockmelon flavours, medium acidity, not a lot of autolysis character. Medium weight, medium length finish. Not quite so impressive as the nose led me to expect somehow. Maybe a little time will help.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461453]2021 Rieslingfreak Riesling No. 5 Off Dry[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley
  {screwcap, 10%} [Glenn] Very youthful, obviously, with aromas of honey, mandarin, sugared limes and apples. The palate is light-bodied, slightly spritzy initially although the acidity fades rather fast. Fairly simple sweet apple flavours on the off-dry palate but the lack of acid leaves it just a bit flabby for me; needs more dimension somehow. Finishes a bit short too. I do like RieslingFreak’s dry rizzas – but this isn’t really convincing for me, not because it’s a bit sugary, but because the structure doesn’t seem quite right to support it.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461454]2015 Chateau Tanunda Shiraz 50 Year Old Vines[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {cork 15.5%} [Geoffrey] There are 4950 bottles of this, made the old-fashioned way, but at new-fangled levels of ripeness. Slightly developing nose, but it’s of baked black fruit, raisins and plums against a fumey, semi-volatile backdrop. Full-bodied, with roasted blackberry fruit (some notorious dead-grape character) and dominated by alcohol, which relegates the low/medium dusty tannins and too-low acidity to bit-players. This gives the palate a patchy quality and a too-short finish (esp at the price, which is ~$80) Back label says cellar for ten years – the usual outer limit for this style of wine, of which we had a few tonight. Pick the fruit earlier, you blokes.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461456]2012 Kaesler Shiraz Alte Reben[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {cork, 14%} [Gordon] Bottle 3827 of 500 cases. Vineyard planted in 1899. This shows the Barossa getting it right. Blackberry compote, plush, rich and a bit jammy but not over-the-top. Medium/full weight, with medium acidity and medium but softly resolving chalky tannins. A balance of power and plush blue/black fruit. Still very primary in character, although, there’s a real sense that the structure is at its limit and more time won’t improve things. Medium long finish, helped by the even presence along the tongue. At peak in my view, and should be drunk before it fades much. Was double-decanted three hours prior – may have helped.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461457]2012 Rockford Rod & Spur[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {cork, 14.4%} [Greg] Fine-looking cork, extracted at table. Far and away the most savoury of the reds tonight. Dusty, leathery, spicy nose, developing in character. Ticks all the medium boxes for weight, acid, chalky tannin, and indeed length of finish. The oak is subtly grainy, and spiced plum with currant fruit is most present on the evolving palate. This is fairly ready now, but will hold a while. The most old-world of the table wines here tonight, and it’s the quintessential Oz blend!
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461458]2006 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {cork, 14.5%} [DavidM] Plenty of leather and old American oak. Chocolate, vanilla and old carpet too. A real generation away from the previous reds, despite just the few year’s difference in age. Its hefty, mature palate is neither fresh nor especially complex in its aged leathery, decaying fruit flavour way. It’s medium-full in weight, with medium/high dusty, oak-driven tannins and low/medium acidity. Surprisingly for shiraz, it seemed to only exist on the mid-palate, with little presence at the front of the tongue at all, and just a medium length finish. Ready to drink and not worth cellaring longer. There was some conjecture as to whether this technically met the ‘old vine’ criteria, but it was probably close enough. (post-note - It's a 19th century vineyard apparently, so there!) The back label admitted to 32 months in oak. Wow. Another wine that would have benefited from earlier picking I think.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461460]2005 Penfolds Shiraz RWT[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {cork, 14.5%} [DavidH] Bottle 45795. Double-decanted before dinner. Developing and leathery. Musty too. Roasted beetroot and raisin palate. Sits all on the front of the tongue though, so despite the medium/full weight initially it finishes on the short side, and is dominated by alcohol. Low gritty tannins, low/medium acidity. No sign of the expensive French oak on the palate, and not much fruit here either. I actually wondered if there was a scalping TCA/cork effect, to be honest, so attenuated did the finish seem to me. Even so, pick the damn grapes earlier, you clowns. Sigh. Another disappointing 21st century Penfolds red.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461464]1994 Seppelt Cabernet Sauvignon Dorrien Vineyard[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {cork, 13%} [Graeme] From the then 50-year-old seven-hectare vineyard, whose fruit destination is publically undisclosed since the demise of this label at the turn of the century. I expect it goes into a very expensive Penfolds cabernet somewhere. The lovely nose thoroughly belies its age, though it’s clearly not young. Cigar box, with sweet black dustings of currant and dark chocolate. Medium weight, medium chalky tannins, just-medium length finish. The palate can’t quite fulfil the promise of the aromas, being largely built on aging chocolate-coated currants and sweet spicy oak (plenty of American I think) so that it’s nice enough – especially for 27 years – but it’s no classed growth Bordeaux. Bit of a mid-palate dip. Double-decanted four hours earlier, spongy but only 20%-soaked cork, level still into the neck. Drink now.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461465]2010 Gatt Wines Shiraz Old Vine Single Vineyard Estate[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {screwcap, 15%} [Graeme] Back-up for the Dorrien. We seemed to need more wine. This is a spiritual sibling of the Tanunda bottle, although the disappointment here is proportionately more with the even high price (just into 3 figures)! But the recipe is the same. Inky black fruit, like sniffing a bottle of iodine. The palate is syrupy and patchy at the same time; blackberry juice leavened with subtle oak. Medium/full weight, medium acid, low powdery tannins. Even palate that’s almost medium length in finish, but not refreshing or satisfying somehow. Pick the bloody grapes earlier, you bastards! No more cellaring needed for this either.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461467]2017 Yelland & Papps Shiraz Devote Greenock[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {screwcap, 13.5%} [Greg] Greg’s chipped in another wine off the list at Fix to fill the gap between the, er, other last table wine and the port. Vines planted in the 80s. 750 cases made but no bottle number. How modest! Seemed very youthful after the previous wines. Primary, jubey sweet fruit, more raspberries and jam, but fresher, lighter. Not a caricature. Spice and red fruit on the palate, becoming dusty and savoury; polished and classy. Even palate, medium weight, dusty tannins, medium acid. The only red clearly in need of more cellaring. Medium length finish that avoids heat. Nice.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9461468]2015 Graham Porto Late Bottled Vintage[/url] - Portugal, Douro, Porto
  {cork, 20%} [Stephen] Liquorice, musk, brandy-ish nose. Quite restrained. Very spicy palate, woody, becoming warmer. Caramel and dust. Resolutely warm and edgy on the palate. Quite aggressive. Not really a contemplative wine. Full-bodied, with a softly gritty oak sense about it. Hardly sweeter than off-dry really. I’m no expert in the style; doubt cellaring would do a great deal.

Interesting night. Re-reading the above, none of the wines were as bad as I’ve implied, really! Picky, picky. My own biases seem to tilt towards cabernet; I preferred the Seppelt and Rockford along with the Kaesler, which was just at the right point in its evolution. Tanunda, Gatt, and RWT on this showing, are examples of a dead-end style in my view. Elderton is from a different age, really. Yelland is following the Keasler, though at a more modest level. Looking ahead, it’s hard to imagine climate change is going to be a friend of the Barossa. They can make fabulous wines at 13.x% - I wish more of them would.

Thanks for the note on the Dorrien, sadly like my Drumborg's all gone, although I do see a few 96s have recently popped up at auction.
The Rockford is a cracker, have 10, 12, 16 and 18...blows 389 into the weeds and for 1/3 the price.
Cheers Craig

Something wrong with that RWT Graeme. Pity you didn't send it back to Penfolds.

I had an 05 last year and they were a ways from tertiary development and the fruit pristine. Have a six pack in Australia so will try one before Xmas.

Yes, Jamie, I rather think so in retrospect. I had the same wine years ago (when it was current release) and it was much better.

Just stirring the pot, (or maybe not, as how far does a Shiraz berry have to travel at Pennies these days) but I have had better Bin 28s from the 80s and 90s than any recent RWT offerings. Had a couple of older vintages too and when revealed...meh. Perhaps that why its called RWT, still a trial very much in progress by the looks
Cheers Craig

Interesting set of wines Graeme, fun to read and informative, stylistically.

I've had a top tier Tanunda Shiraz as well as the Elderton command and neither were my style. On the other hand I have had a 1993 Seppelt Dorrien Cabernet a long time ago and I was impressed. I've not had a Rod & Spur but a bottle of their 1998 Moppa Springs was absolutely on form with about two decades under its belt.

By the way, you are spot on regarding the Graham's LBV as it is, for the most part, a commercial release, using the maximum allowable 6 years before bottling. The best LBVs, as you probably already know are the houses that uses the minimum 4 years and bottle them unfiltered.

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