TN: Foreign wines (ok, mostly foreign. But unusual...)

[GraemeG]

Notes from the Noble Rotters June dinner – Any wine not from Australia, New Zealand, France or Italy.

2002 Companiade Vinos Telmo Rodriguez „LZ“ (Rioja)
New style Rioja. Cherries & raspberries on the light nose. An acidic, yet quite soft, palate of sour cherries and cordial-l flavours. This is tempranillo? Light-medium body with a short finish. Taking on the New World at their own game, perhaps? Acceptable but not memorable. Around $25.

1996 Bodegas Beronia Rioja Riserva
Brick red. A slightly pungent, earthy sour nose. Faintly oxidative notes appear as well. Sweetish, almost fizzy tannins on the palate. A bit leathery in texture – good weight through to the mid-palate. Somewhat traditional Rioja with only moderate oak influence. Attractive for a modest rioja, but unlikely to improve much I think. Around $28 last year.

2001 Mission Hill Oculus (Okanagan Valley, Canada)
A merlot-dominated Bordeaux-variety blend. Dark crimson red. Plush nose of oak, blackberries and blackcurrant, with faintly herbaceous notes in a varietally-correct way. Surprisingly lighter on the palate than the nose suggests. A fine-grained texture, unexpectedly soft tannins, but cutting acid. Light, elegant cool climate fruit characters dominate the palate, which is oddly contrasted with expectations raised by the bouquet. Nicely balanced (at 13.5%), although the relatively light weight suggests young vine fruit, perhaps? Good wine.

2000 Warwick EstateÂ’Old BushÂ’ Pinotage
Deep bright red. Subtle gamey notes, overlaid with a dose of VA/brett. Somewhat varnishy on palate. A furry warm finish (14%) of medium length. Not hugely concentrated or intense. A bit diffuse – despite the impressive initial impact on the palate the finish fades fairly quickly.

2001 Mondavi/Rosemount ‘Talomas’ Shiraz-Cabernet (Central Coast, California)
A dark deep red that stop just short of purple. A very New-World nose of clean black./red fruits with polished vanillan oak. The palate adds a pepper flavour to form a vertical linear wine which marches a line of fine tannins down the centre of the palate. The wine is tight, all primary fruit, and consequently somewhat balanced to the front palate in its finish. I wonder if a slightly confected note comes from over-worked or raisined fruit (14.5% alcohol here, but carried quite well). Will probably be better in a few years, but I canÂ’t see huge improvement nor a long life here. Pretty good value for mid $20s.

1985 Nederburg ‘Baronne’
The bottle gives no clues, but I believe this to be a shiraz–cabernet blend – South Africa’s version of Koonunga Hill. Pale brick in colour, this has leather/varnish aromas with a certain VA sweetness to them. The palate reveals the wine has utterly collapsed – harsh, dry, oxidized, with no fruit or secondary characters of any interest.

2000 Bontari Cabernet Sauvignon (Trifilia / Peloponnese, Greece)
Light red. Aromas of light cherry and white pepper. Somewhat astringent in a soft way. Short finish. A undemanding wine for simple foods

1999 Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Merlot (McLaren Vale)
always a ringerÂ…Very clean new world nose of red berries and that McLaren Vale fruitcake quality! Raspberry aromas display a warm overtone, although not entirely hiding a whiff of spearmint/menthol. The palate is quite rich and weighty, with some multidimensional textures, but the wine is not particularly complex.

1998 Beringer Estate ‘Founder’s Estate’ (California)
Mid red. Shows some minty, spearmint aromas. Mild on the palate – the flavours are as vague as the constituent information on the label. Pleasant enough in a simple way. Probably better some years ago.

1996 Chateau Musar (Lebanon)
Pale red. ThereÂ’s some real brett here, with maybe a dash of VA as well. Not unreminiscent of an old earthy Hunter Shiraz (the nearest local reference point). Quite light in body, yet surprisingly persistent. Acidic, though. Something of an acquired taste, although I gather the 96 is the weakest Musar vintage of the 90s.

The following was the last wine ‘on the theme’ so to speak, though it was drunk at the very end of the night:
1968 Tokaji Aszu Essenzia Export Monimpex Budapest
I hope I have the name right…? A dark brown, which in colour and viscosity resembled motor oil. The nose was quite coarse, resembling a mixture of cold tea and rotting vegetables. On the palate there is significant oxidization – it’s not dissimilar to an amontillado sherry is some ways – although signs of richness remain the wine has pretty well dried out. A longish finish, but really a shadow of what it may have been.


We had few new release wines to sample as well, of varying quantity:
2000 Seppelt St PeterÂ’s Shiraz (Great Western)
Tasted blind. Black as the ace of spades. Soft choco-berry aromas. Soft as silk on the palate – the finest tannins of the night were here. Primal, with huge brooding fruit. Warm, with a good long finish, this is very elemental. Very good, but in a few years, please!

Retailer question – would you buy these wines for $5?
2003 Half Mile Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
2003 Half Mile Creek Cabernet Merlot
2003 Half Mile Creek Chardonnay
The cabernet is the best of these, but all three carry buckets of residual sugar. The cabernet is warm, jammy. The cab-merlot, despite the sugar, betrays hints of under-ripeness. The chardonnay just reeked of lollywater – how this could be described as ‘dry white’ escapes me. For the money the reds will sell, I guess (but not to me), I’m sure the white can be beaten with something better, even at that price.

1964 Chateau Canon (St Emilion)
Off the theme, but to celebrate a birthday year. Pale brick red. Very dry smelling nose, dried leaves & tobacco. All secondary characters. No tannins to speak of. The palate is light and soft, and gradually picks up some lingering sweetness over time. Wine still alive, but definitely drink up!

1994 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz (Great Western)
Under the new crown seal. Brambly fruit aromas, with a dash of eucalypt & menthol. Very young, and dry (for a fizzy shiraz). Long finish, and a fine bead, but needs more time

Cheers,
Graeme

[Baby Chickpea]

Notes from the Noble Rotters June dinner – Any wine not from Australia, New Zealand, France or Italy.

1996 Chateau Musar (Lebanon)
Pale red. ThereÂ’s some real brett here, with maybe a dash of VA as well. Not unreminiscent of an old earthy Hunter Shiraz (the nearest local reference point). Quite light in body, yet surprisingly persistent. Acidic, though. Something of an acquired taste, although I gather the 96 is the weakest Musar vintage of the 90s.

The following was the last wine ‘on the theme’ so to speak, though it was drunk at the very end of the night:
1968 Tokaji Aszu Essenzia Export Monimpex Budapest
I hope I have the name right…? A dark brown, which in colour and viscosity resembled motor oil. The nose was quite coarse, resembling a mixture of cold tea and rotting vegetables. On the palate there is significant oxidization – it’s not dissimilar to an amontillado sherry is some ways – although signs of richness remain the wine has pretty well dried out. A longish finish, but really a shadow of what it may have been.

Cheers,
Graeme

Talk about eclectic but very interesting tasting Graeme.

I can unreservedly assure that the 68 Essenzia you tasted is NOT representative of the wine. I am not sure what the problem is with yours although my initial feeeling is that it is "cooked" and oxidised. I have had this wine several times as it is my birth vintage. My most recent bottle of the 68 Aszu-Essencia was amongst the best I have had. I have never rated this below 19/20. It should never be "dried out" given the weight and intensity it puts on with time. Tokaji makers often say that you know the Aszu-Essenzia and Essenzia's are ready when they turn black (as a few at Langton's over the years have been). That deep oil colour is typical of these wines. I would be very interested to know of the provenance of this wine and where it was bought - if its Langton's you must make sure you check levels and condition of the wine for one so old - in past years I have checked these bottles and they have been leaking and /or severely ullaged.

Agree on the 96 Musar - my stash goes back to 1977 with all the great vintages. The 96 is indeed the weakest of the 90s (what a difference tasting it next to the massive 95!) but it is a more elegant style suited for consumption over the next few years. It will never shine like the 95 or 91. It's always exciting seeing people taste Musar for the first time - they nvere know what to make of it but with age they can develop into proto-Hunter leathery shiraz chararcter wines. VA and oxidised winememaking is par for the course and bottle variability is extremly high.

[GraemeG]

The Tokaji wasn't excessively ullaged, yet was quite some way from the wine you described. I'll make some enquiries about provenance - a crying shame to have missed something so good. (also I'll find out if the provider has any more...)

cheers,
Graeme