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Delatite dinner and 98 Jacob's Creek cellar reserve

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 1:05 pm
by bacchaebabe
Been drinking a bit of the 98 Jacob's Creek cellar reserve shiraz lately as the house quaffer. Drinking very well now and is fully integrated and just a lovely drink which should hold for a little while yet. At around $12 a bottle when released (and still I think) this has proven to be quite good value.

Went to the Delatite dinner at Salt in Sydney on Sunday. Wasn't overly impressed I'm afraid. I didn't take notes so this is all from (my failing) memory.

Their sparkling wine. Can't remember the name or vintage but I wasn't so keen. A bit dull and maybe too yeasty or something. Wouldn't buy any and wasn't even so keen to drink it.

2002? gerwertztraminer. Very floral indeed with almost overpowering rose notes on the nose. Not so bad to drink but still very sweet and floral with a bit of honey. This was served with a single king prawn in a coconut broth which was sublime. The broth seemed to have a lemongrass infusion or something but was really very good. It wasn't a bad match for the food but I wouldn't buy any of this either and I usually like gerwertztraminer. It was also quite cloudy which was unusual but didn't seem to affect the taste. The winemaker said it was a protein haze or something.

2002 Merlot. This was quite a nice wine. Quite rounded and very drinkable with no hollow bits. Plenty of flavour and the tannins were well integrated even at this age.
2002 Cab Savignon. A bit too green and leafy for my liking. Felt too young but the greenness was hard for me to get around. Both these wines were served with veal which was nice enough.

1999 Shiraz. Didn't feel like it had that much age on it. Still felt very young and also green in a similar way to the Cab Sav. Served with a quince tart with ginger cream. A daring mix which worked OK but the shiraz didn't really do it for me. I would have prefered this with some cheese maybe and felt it may have shown better with that match.

This is a cool climate vineyard at the base of Mount Buller apparently. The WOTN was the merlot by far but I won't be searching any of the wines out. I'm not sure I'll be rushing back to Salt either. The food was well executed but the portions were tiny and I don't like to walk out of a restaurant still hungry after paying $85 even if it did include the wine. It's also a very noisy restaurant which made conversation difficult. We shared our table with some lovely folk from the shire who even knew someone I went to school with (small world and all that).

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 8:07 am
by David Lole
Hello Kris,

Your notes relect my thoughts on Ros's wines pretty well. Delatite's best wine, usually, is the Riesling (which can stand some bottle age) followed by the Sauvignon Blanc, both of which were (strangely) not on show. I've always had trouble coming to grips with their reds. Thanks for posting on the dinner.