The Auswine Forum

Was nice to be at one of these on the other side of the table for a change!

But a couple of points of interest:

I've been following the discussion of the relative merits of the two Orlando Cabernets (the Jaccaranda Ridge and St Hugo) with interest, so the chance to compare the two was a real highlight for me. I was surprised to find that the Jaccaranda Ridge seemed to be quite one dimensional, with sweet ripe fruit and truck loads of tannin but little else. The St Hugo was vastly more interesting with savoury notes that gave the fruit balance. A year or so ago I would have been seduced by the "bigness" of the Jaccaranda Ridge, I must be growing up!
That said I found the Devil's Lair to be the most interesting Cabernet type wine for the day.

Now there were quite a few big wines on tasting that day, wines that you would think needed hours in a decanter to open up. I mentioned how tight and closed some wines seemed to a couple of presenters and was told that I should decant them of course! I can't understand how a person being paid to present wines can justify not showing them in their best light.

Dave,

By chance I had a 2000 St Hugo yesterday. When I first tried it late morning, it was pretty good. But by 9 pm it was far superior and that was after 11 hours of air time.

I would like to do the same comparison with the Jacaranda. Also, the Jack may just need more time to get rid of its baby fat and gain some secondary aged nuances.

Good point Ric, you would definitely think half a day of breathing would bring out more interest in the Jacaranda (see me subtly correct my spelling error), and it would be an important comparison to make.

It just confuses me why presenters wouldn't want to show their product in its best light.

I was at the tasting and also tried the Jacaranda and St Hugo side-by-side. The St Hugo was nice by underwhelming. Maybe more airing would have helped as mentioned above. At the time I was thinking that there are better value wines around than this and that it may be trading on its past reputation a bit to much these days.

The Jacaranda was definitely as a step up in intensity and body. Just needs more time and airing. As with the previous wine, it was served straight from bottle that was unlikely to have been earlier decanted, and hence may not have been showing at its best.

The highlights of the tasting for me were:

Devils Lair cabernet 2001 - first DL cabernet ever tasted. I was impressed at the $. Just needs more time to open up. Great structure and mouthfeel. Try again in 5 years.

Sinclair (Pemberton) cabernet 2001 - relatively new label and very impressive for $19.

Amberley cabernet merlot 2001 - again good value and body for $20-ish

St Hallet Blackwell 2002 - enjoyable and well made (though I wasnt jumping hoops).

Majella cabernet 2002 - now your talking! Bloody sensational. Easily kicked the 2000 St Hugo of its perch at the same price. Wine of the day for me. Needless to say I bought some.

Orlando Jacaranda 1998- needs time but seemed pretty good. I remember thinking it was fairly priced at $50 and would be over priced at anything higher.