TN: Blacktongues 3/11/04 (including WOMS)

[n4sir]

This group of Steve’s “odds & ends” turned out to be impressive group of huge tannic beasts that rivaled the scale of the mighty Super Shiraz tastings. TORB asked after the Super Shiraz II tasting whether I ranked the wines purely on drinkability now, or if I take future cellaring capabilities into consideration. This group tended to show my bias in these tastings to favor more immediately approachable wines – that said if I feel a wine is well out of its drinking window and will greatly improve with cellaring I usually make the point and adjust my marks for this. As TORB would have known from the SA trip closing dinner, I tend to warm more to wines with complexity rather than brute force, but there is the rare occasion where a wine has masses of both, a wine I would dare to call “better than sex”.


2001 Elderton Barossa Merlot $25: Inky red colour. Slightly closed & perfumed nose at first with a mixture of tomato and toasted oak, and some mocha and dried herbs with breathing. The mid-weight palate is sweet and soft and complex with mocha oak, star anise, licorice, and mixed spice. The mix of fruit, oak and complexity was perfect from the beginning, and the finish was incredibly long for the weight of the wine. This was a big surprise since I’ve had many disappointments with the variety.

My Ranking: 1st place
BTs: 3 most preferred, 1 second, 1 least



2002 Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz $17: Glowing inky purple/red colour. Powerful nose of concentrated, slightly stewy plums, with hints of coffee/mocha. The rich palate has spicy blackberry fruit that swallows up the oak and lingers on the finish, with hints of black olives and medicinal/cough syrup characters. The structure is unusual as it drops a bit in the middle a bit like a Cabernet at first, but overall the wine is very impressive and was one of the cheaper wines that clearly outperformed their price point.

My ranking: 4th place
BTs: 2 most, 5 second, 0 least



2002 Kaesler Weapons of Mass Seduction Barossa Shiraz Cabernet $70: Glowing inky purple/black colour. A slightly closed and elemental nose of malty/earthy oak and stewed, concentrated blackberry syrup. The palate is just as closed and elemental with simple blackberry fruit at this stage, but the powerful tannin structure and stunning length signal this wine is just a baby. This was an extremely strong wine to have finished sixth and showed the strength of this line up; I’d say it’s at least ten years off its best, possibly twenty.

My ranking: 6th place
BTs: 2 most, 2 second, 0 least



2002 Kilikanoon Blocks Road Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $26: Inky purple/red colour. A very chalky nose at first that seemed to scream out Coonawarra Cabernet, with additional hints of beetroot and tea leaf with air. The palate is leafy/minty and spicy at first, with a big structure that wasn’t out of place in this line up, finishing long with slightly green tannins and some oak on the aftertaste. This confirmed what I thought of the wine at a Kilikanoon instore promotion; my favorite of the 2002 releases that outperforms its price tag.

My ranking: 5th place
BTs: 3 most, 2 second, 3 least



2003 Two Hands Max’s Garden Heathcote Grenache $55: Glowing dark to inky purple colour. Powerful and ripe nose with sweet, stewed plum fruit and a faint hint of apricots. The palate is big, spicy and complex with rich blackberry, olive, a hint of licorice and apricot, finishing with big, chewy tannins and a touch of olive. I thought this was an incredibly impressive Grenache, another stunning example of what Heathcote can produce when it’s done well.

My ranking: 3rd place
BTs: 0 most, 2 second, 1 least



2002 Tin Shed Single Wire Barossa Shiraz $45: Glowing inky purple/black colour. A very unusual but complex nose that seemed to indicate there’s a bit of a war going on between the fruit and oak; stewed plums, coconut, vanilla, stewed apricot, and rather disturbingly some chemical/glue characters. The palate is huge and extracted, with ripe/stewed blackberry syrup/apricot, finishing bitter with massive tannins and slightly hot alcohol (14.5%). There would appear to be quite a bit of bottle variation already – out of four bottles I’ve tried it’s been different every time. At it’s best it’s a stunner, but twice now at the Blacktongues it’s been disjointed and rebellious, lacking class to match that power.

My ranking: =7th place
BTs: 1 most, 4 second, 1 least



2002 Kilikanoon Covenant Clare Valley Shiraz $43: Glowing inky purple colour. An almost completely closed nose with some earthy/spicy blackberry characters far off in the distance. I found the palate quite hot, with simple spicy blackberry fruit that lacked the layered texture I found previously at that Kilakanoon instore. This is the second time I’ve been far more impressed with the Blocks Road at just a fraction of the price, but other panelists thought otherwise.

My ranking: 9th place
BTs: 2 most, 5 second, 1 least



2002 Kies Klauber Block Barossa Shiraz $19: Dark to inky purple/red colour. The nose signals a wine that is lavishly oaked, but has enough ripe fruit to back it up; prune, some varnish, milk chocolate, and eucalyptus/mint that tinkers on the edge of being porty. The palate is equally sweet, with signature Barossa chocolate, blackberry, cinnamon/mixed spice, mulberry and eventually honeycomb. That mixture of sweet chocolate, cinnamon and eucalyptus somehow reminded me of the 2002 Kalleske Grenache; it was clearly a polarizing wine, with some panelists finding the wine too porty/extracted and oaked for their taste.

My ranking: 2nd place
BTs: 0 most, 5 second, 5 least



2003 Two Hands Lily’s Garden McLaren Vale Shiraz $55: Dark to inky purple colour. A huge extracted nose of stewed plum and blackberry, paint fumes and oak. The palate was relatively simple in this line up, with a big structure but equally big alcohol that failed to impress me.

My ranking: =7th place
BTs: 3 most, 5 second, 0 least



2003 Kaesler The Fave Grenache $40: Dark to inky purple colour. From the first whiff most of us swore this had to be a Viognier blend – the stench of stewed apricots rivals that of a sticky! The palate was equally stewed and sickly sweet, definitely in the porty spectrum with searing 16.5% alcohol. Definitely not my fave, and any of the other panelists either.

My ranking: 10th place
BTs: 0 most, 1 second, 4 least


My thanks again to Steve and the gang for another great experience. I hope the notes were worth the wait!

Cheers
Ian

[707]

Thanks for your notes Ian, I'm just too slack to do a set for the forum!

This tasting of what really was odds and ends showed a few interesting facts -

The 2002 Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz may just have been the quality bargain of the year

The 2002 Kilikanoon Blocks Road Cabernet is a great follow on from the 2001 and both wines are excellent in their own right but live in the shadow of the Oracle

The 2002 Kaesler WOMS has a fault, it's too young. You just have to buy it and tuck it away. Don't look for five years but be prepared for a big smile then, I think it's a great example of that neglected blend of Shiraz and Cabernet

[Noel]

I was under the impression this was Shiraz not Grenache. Just checked their website and i cannot see a Max's Grenache?? Are you sure!! Would be interested to see a Heathcote Grenache which i don't recall tasting before

[radioactiveman]

I have a confession to make. I just love reading the notes from the Blacktongue sessions. My sort of gig. Keep up the good work.


Cheers

Jamie

[707]

Noel, n4sir must have been under pressure getting his notes written, Max's Garden is definitely Shiraz.

[Noel]

Thanks 707 you confirmed my thoughts. Not a problem just wondered if i had missed out on a wine that would be worth trying!

[n4sir]

Sorry about the mistake guys - thanks for the correction Noel & Steve.

I finished typing the notes up & posted them about midnight, but I made the mistake at the end of the session when the bags were revealed. I thought that was one mighty big wine for a Grenache!

I hope to get last Wednesday's notes together for the weekend - those reds were so spectacular they deserve priority over the Champagne notes from last week.

Cheers
Ian