TN: September notes

[GraemeG]

A few notes as recorded in September:

• 2014 Caillard Shiraz - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (30/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 14.1%} Deep ruby. Polished, slightly developing nose of raspberry and chocolate. Palate is in the mainstream of Caillard Shiraz, which is to say ripe but not raisined fruit, subtle oak, medium acid, lavish mouthfeel, medium/full weight, even palate and medium length finish. All that’s best about Barossa Shiraz with none of the bad bits! A wine that will be lovely til its tenth birthday at least.
• 2020 Fantini Terre Di Chieti - Italy (30/09/2022)
  Rather low intensity bistro red, with a rasp of acid for structure, little tannin, and some savoury red fruit flavour of fairly generic profile. Light/medium weight, short finish. Ordinary.
• 2004 Peter Lehmann Shiraz Eight Songs - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (29/09/2022)
  Same as May - generally fading fruit, mature and pleasant, somewhat astringent finish lacking a little fruit development. Level was good, cork looked perfect, but was an auction buy so I wouldn't rule out previous warm storage having a deleterious effect.
• 2018 St Hallett Shiraz Blackwell - Australia, South Australia, Barossa (28/09/2022)
  {cork, 14.5% and I bet it’s at the very limit of complying with the labelling regulations!}. Deep crimson ruby. Big plum and stewed blackberry, milk chocolate aromas. Not obviously oaky; the fruit swallows all that up. The palate is Barossa from central casting, at least the modern variant, stopping short of raisins or dead fruit. But it’s washingly rich in flavour, and the mild dusty tannins seem almost swallowed up, although they’ve some acidity to support them. It’s verging on full-bodied for fruit, though not quite for structure. Even palate, although the finish is only just medium in length. Avoids too much heat, to be fair. Satisfyingly rich all round. Probably better to drink before its decade is out, despite the fifteen-year aging claims on the back label.
• 2021 Bakkheia Chardonnay - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (27/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 12.9%} Alcohol per Bakkheia’s tasting sheet, not the bottle label (12.3%). Makes me disbelieve the 1307 bottle claim too! Pale, slightly grey looking yellow. Not a great vintage, apparently. On the nose, a little oak seasoning, with grapefruit, melon. Hint of nuts. Palate tastes as advertised, although fairly dilute (or restrained). Medium acid knits it together well enough. The oak - 12 months in mix of new & old French oak - is fairly subtle. The wine is about medium weight, with a buttery touch to the medium length finish. Despite Bakkheia’s promise of aging til 2035, I doubt there’s much to be gained by that much cellaring. But still, there’s nothing wrong with this; it’s a gently beguiling, not sweet, modern Chardonnay, even if it lacks a strong personality at this point.
• 2017 Tyrrell's Shiraz Single Vineyard Mother's - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin (26/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 14%} Still a pretty youthful garnet. Touch of reduction on opening; fades slowly to reveal some stewed plum freshness, faint whiff of tobacco and earth. Hardly developed, despite Tyrrell’s own website Vintage Chart calling this inaugural vintage at peak drinking now. Palate is ripe, savoury, with fruit flavours all on the tart and fresh end of the red fruit spectrum; no jam or raisin or prune here. It’s medium bodied at most, with low/medium dusty tannins not evidently deriving much from oak, medium acidity, and a medium length savoury finish. This was sub-$30 on release as I recall - that’s a pretty decent wine for that kind of money. This will happily develop for another five years easily.
• NV Penfolds Grandfather Fine Old Liqueur Tawny - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (26/09/2022)
  {cork} The old yellow label bottling, with all the Australian capital cities in a row along the label. So, twenty years in bottle? Anyway, level is good, and cork seems to have been fairly reliable. Golden brown colour. Beautiful nose of figs, honey and caramel. Lovely palate, of caramel carpet, honey, fig, hint of tea. Richly sweet, full-bodied, but with a grand acid spine to hold it all together. Long, rich, decadent finish. Grand stuff. If the level is good on these old bottling, don’t hesitate!
• 2014 Mount Pleasant Wines Shiraz Old Paddock & Old Hill - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley, Pokolbin (22/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 14%} Still lots of garnet colour. Reticent nose and palate of cranberry, cherry, blackberry. Fruit-driven, but no bomb. Ultrafine dusty tannins, medium acidity. Medium weight, with an earthy but clean, savoury sort of presence. Still sweetly ripe for flavour, but polished, classy, refined. Delicate, even. Medium/long finish of impeccable balance along the tongue. Too young for much development yet in this top vintage, I suspect, so probably best to give it another 8-10 years.
• 2018 Seppelt Grüner Veltliner Drumborg Vineyard - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Henty (19/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 11%} Mid straw yellow, befitting a few years’ age. Developing nose of minerals and peas. Not really mint though. Some pepper possibly, it is gruner after all. The palate is dry and steely, with only subtle acidity, and a real battleship grey feel to the flavours, and texture too, if it comes to that. It’s quite earthy, and might pass for a Australian semillon without having to disguise itself to hard. Very much like licking rocks when it comes to flavour, a bit of limestone maybe, and combines a medium weight, dry body with a moderately long finish that becomes more steely than acidic of fruity as it slips over the palate. Maybe Henty is the right place in Oz to plant this grape; guess we’ll know in a hundred years or so. I think this particular bottle is fairly ready now, although it seems to have the bones to carry on a while yet.
• 2012 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Shiraz V & A Lane - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra (18/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 13.5%} Still a deep garnet. Finally some development on the nose, with chocolate, black fruit, spice. Smells quite deep and ripe. The palate has only moved slightly off primary, with something of a closed down sense to it. Although, I’ve just opened and poured, so perhaps my fault. Medium weight, with finely gritty tannins, subtle oak, medium acidity. The palate has polished classy black fruit, much less pepper and spice than I found in earlier bottling, although it’s still present. Medium length finish, not quite outstanding but probably only going to get better. Still no rush to drink.
• 2018 Tenuta Sant'Antonio Corvina Scaia Veneto IGT - Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT (17/09/2022)
  {vinolok, 13%} Translucent mid garnet. Classic corvina nose of exotic spice, sweet red fruit, with a compost and earth hint to it. The palate is right in line, with minimal if any oak, medium acid, low/medium grapey tannins, medium weight, a dry but ripe character and a sweet-tinged medium length finish, thanks to the fairly even balance of flavours along the tongue. Impressive stuff. Should be good for a few more yearsa easily.
• 2001 Tower Estate Chairman's Selection - Australia, South Eastern (16/09/2022)
  {cork, 14%} Youthful looking for twenty; there’s barely a hint of bricking here. Fairly old fashioned Australian nose, with sweet vanilla and clove oak, and some turning-leathery cassis and red fruit. The palate is medium weight, with a compost sweetness rather like an old rioja. Medium acidity, with a nod to future volatility. Quite even palate, medium/long finish perhaps a bit prosaic, but still very tasty. A personable note from Len Evans adorns the back label; it advises 5 years cellaring minimum and promises aging as long as the old wartime bottling of these multi-region Shiraz/cab blends. Eh, maybe, but I doubt there’s improvement to come here, although there’s no sign of it falling over. The Hunter Shiraz perhaps helps with the earthiness of it, toning down the SA contributions of Barossa Shiraz and Coonawarra cabernet. Proportions not specified. Perfect cork in this instance - I should have decanted probably too instead of just pouring. The 05 vintage of the same cuvée is more impressive though, I must add.
• NV Chambers Rosewood Dry Flor Apera - Australia, Victoria, North East, Rutherglen (16/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 17%} Pale straw. Nose of faint nuts and sandstone. And a very dry sherry flor quality. Light, clean and fresh, pointed and quite acidic. Quite even palate, but fairly short on the finlish. Mild flavours. Decent.
• 2020 Maison François Martenot Mâcon-Villages Grands Prés - France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Villages (14/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 13%} Modern, clean, fairly dilute Chardonnay. A bit of nut, some melon maybe, not too much oak, mild tannin, lowish acidity. Even sort of palate for texture, but not a lot of flavour. Perfectly sound, drink colder for better effect. Perhaps a little exxy at over $20 but there’s nothing wrong with it. No cellaring though.
• 2019 Roberto Flammini Mencía Ribeira Sacra Almanova - Spain, Galicia, Ribeira Sacra (13/09/2022)
  {cork, 13%} Youthful mid garnet with a tinge of crimson. Mild nose of rustic brambly fruits and a hint of tobacco. Warm friendly palate, with medium acid and low grainy tannins. Light/medium in weight, it has a rotting fruit sort of sweetness to it, and a fairly simple, easy, short-medium finish. For around A$24 it avoids a cheap commercial quality nicely. Not really got the structure for aging though.
• 2013 Seppelt Pinot Noir Drumborg Vineyard - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Henty (12/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 13%} Gently fading garnet. Mild nose of compost and leaves, clearly maturing. Charming palate of deli meats and rotting red berries, quite fruit-driven, with medium acidity and low dusty tannins. Little oak evident. Light/medium weight, quite even palate, medium length, easy, dry finish. Really good stuff for under $50, but unlikely to develop further, or reach the real heights of the grape.
• 2017 Michele Chiarlo Nizza Cipressi - Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Nizza (11/09/2022)
  {diam5, 14%} Plenty of Deep garnet here. Open, still youthful aromas of sweet cranberry. Minimal oak. Palate is a mix of earthy tobacco, sweet piquant red fruit flavours. Medium acidity, medium weight. Sweet tang to the finish of this medium weight wine, soft tannins, medium length finish. Not profound, but perfectly gluggable over the next few years.
• 2017 Levantine Hill Estate Rubeus The Coldstream Guard - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley (10/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 13%} Cabernet, shiraz, pinot, merlot. Looks quite brick-like in colour, especially for only 5 years. Confected, jammy nose; red fruits, not too much oak. Distinctly sweet palate for me; jam and red fruit, minimal tannins, medium acidity. Balanced enough, medium weight, but with what seems to me to be conspicuous residual sugar. medium length finish, but all sweetness. A crowd pleaser for sure; not really my style though.
• 2019 Pooley Riesling - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River (9/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 13.9%} Pale yellow. Restrained limestone and minerals, with a grey sort of undertone. Palate is powerful, dry, quite phenolic, with yellow leaf flavours, sand and stone, mineral, but also plenty of warmth. That alcohol level is quite apparent in filling this out with weigh and heat. Full bodied, medium acidity, even palate presence. Medium length finish, but warm. Climate change comes to Tasmania. Not sure about aging this, to be honest.
• 2012 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling trocken - Germany, Rheingau (7/09/2022)
  {cork, 12.5%, AP 25 13} Solid mid gold, but still bright. Perfect cork. Maturing nose of honey and sandstone. limestone too. Hint of lychee. But with a yellowing of age about it. The palate is dry but rich, dry, with a hint of kerosene to the otherwise brown leaf, honey and apple flavours. Medium weight, low/medium acidity. Even presence along the tongue, but only really a short/medium finish that doesn't quite sustain the interest it seemed to promise. Feels just past peak a bit, but still pretty nice. Drink up.
• 2014 Andrew Thomas Wines Shiraz Elenay Barrel Selection - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (5/09/2022)
  {screwcap, 13.8%} Rich black fruit, chocolate (oak?), medium/full weight, fine powdery tannins, decent acidity. A bit anonymous in style perhaps, but still a delicious mouthful of red which avoids all the traps including too much heat. No rush to drink either.
• 2014 Domaine A Merlot - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River (3/09/2022)
  {cork, 14.1%} Correct garnet for age. Developing nose of asparagus and tomato leaf. Rather greenish I must say. Palate is cool, with leafy flavours and a lean-ish sort of green stalky flavour, which rather dominates the soft blue fruit. Fine powdery tannins, medium weight, medium acidity. This could be very decent, but that hard green streak underneath really is a bit of a spoiler. Won’t improve either, if experience is anything to go by. Hope they’re not making this every year, cause it’s always been a marginal proposition in my view.
• NV Seppeltsfield 125th Anniversary Joseph Ernst Seppelt - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (7/08/2022)
  {cork} And a fairly soggy one at that. Once the levels in these bottles reach the bottom of the neck, they've usually lost all freshness. I had a couple of these this year, and there's the remains of a lovely wine, with figs and caramel and old barrels and that wonderful rancio character, but there's a lingering staleness that you don't get from these same bottlings when the level is only half-way down the neck. So, buyer beware. Made from port stocks from vintages 1933-1954 and bottled and released in 1976.
• 2018 Mirella Buscemi Sicilia Il Rosso - Italy, Sicily, Sicilia (4/08/2022)
  {13.5%} Sweet grenache/lolly/strawberry flavours. Medium/high acidity. Little apparent oak or tannin. Light/medium weight but with a growingly astringent finish. OK.
• 2020 Bruno Rocca Langhe Nebbiolo Fralu - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC (4/08/2022)
  {cork, 14.5%} Tobacco & cherry. Quite a tart palate, with medium/high acidity. Medium, finely gritty tannins, medium body. Certainly a food wine, with its medium length, drying finish.

Always seem to find myself drinking stuff too young somehow. Need a bigger cellar!

[JamieAdelaide]

Last time I had that B Rocca Nebbiolo was with pizza in Monforte. Great food wine at $25 Aussie- leave it open a few days it should build a bit of muscle and be a more gluggable experience.

I’ve been in Brissy a week and what a piss take is the price of wine at bars and restaurants. I saw this wine for $90! Versus $25 in ITA!

[GraemeG]

The Rocca was at a restaurant in Sydney - I seem to recall it wasn't far short of $90 there either. North of $75 certainly. Sounds a decent buy at $25!

[felixp21]

I rarely eat in licensed restaurants any more, it is just too sickening to see the absurd prices of, usually, very mundane wines.
Sadly, the days of a decent and decently-priced wine list are long gone.

[JamieAdelaide]

Indeed! Walter’s steak house in Brissy I think it was, 2016 Armagh was $800. And the Bruno Rocca above $106.

[phillisc]

Yes agree, local Penola pub is getting the Ed Peter billionaire make over. $400 Wendouree in the wine cabinet... can't see any takers from the locals.
Cheers Craig