TN: Offline @ Cos 28-1-2005
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:16 am
Nayan, Mark Wickman and Glen Greene arranged this special dinner at the Cos Bar (Leigh Street, Adelaide) last Friday, with no particular reason in mind apart from indulging ourselves in a glut of fine wine and food. All bottles are 750ml unless noted otherwise.
1996 Pol Roger Champagne: Pale gold colour with a vigorous mouse and steady bead. Bready/yeasty nose with a hint of apricot; slightly spicy palate with some creaminess, and hints of candied orange. A nice start to the evening.
1998 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay: Medium yellow colour. Oak and aged fruit dominate the nose with deep nutty/toasty aromas. A thick spine of acid, stonefruit and tannin drive the palate at first, with some malo characters far off in the background. With some breathing the palate seems less fractured, with a nice flow of grapefruit characters, and roasted nuts on the finish. A textbook Australian Chardonnay, but it’s hard to know exactly where this is going.
1994 Pipers Brook Summit Chardonnay (Magnum): Dark glowing gold colour. Unlike the Eileen Hardy pure fruit, a perfumed sweet scent of white peach and a touch of honey dominate the nose. The palate is big and brawny, with masses of tropical fruit and nutty oak (and 14.5% alcohol) in a rather civilized battle, finishing extremely long and nutty. Peter thought like the Eileen Hardy this was rather fractured, and yet I couldn’t help but be impressed – maybe it just could last for 20 years plus?
1982 Chateau Potensac Medoc (Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc): Dark red colour with flashes of pink/brick on the rim. Very slight but beautifully perfumed nose at first of rose petals; with breathing/heavy swirling it opens up completely with a huge mixture of chalk, herbs, banana leaf and roasted capsicum. The palate was extremely elegant throughout the tasting, with mushroom, ash and smoke, finishing long and earthy with a hint of menthol. This was an exceptional bottle, and the most beautifully balanced wine – one of my favourites of the evening, somehow like combining the best elements of a newly released and gracefully aged Coonawarra Cabernet.
1991 Orlando Lawsons Padthaway Shiraz: Inky red colour. A very open and sweet/fresh nose of mint, cedar and perfume, and some menthol with breathing. The spicy palate was just as young and fresh, with reduced blackberry, capsicum and some tar. The freshness and sweetness of the bottle was a real surprise to me after trying a muddy/earthy bottle many years ago that left a poor impression. After the Medoc this really had the impression of being a big Aussie fruit-bomb, sweet, cuddly and relatively simple, but that said it was still very good and WOTN for a few people.
1991 Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark red colour. A very complex nose of bread/donut dough, cedar, concentrated tomato and some banana/vanillan oak. The palate is spicy with a seamless build-up of cassis/raspberry fruit, with hints of tar and menthol, finishing seemingly slightly alcoholic (although only 13%) with some mouthwash characters on the aftertaste. That said it was still very impressive, making me wonder if these powerful 2002 Barossa Cabernets will taste this good in another 11 years.
1989 Chateau Pradeaux Bandol (Predominantly Mourvedre): Nayan was suspicious of this bottle (he bought at auction) at first because of the absolutely perfect cork and complete absence of any crust/sediment – could this have been recorked or a fake? Bright raspberry red colour with a dark centre. Extremely closed nose at first with slight hints of smoked meats and gunpowder, only opening up with a lot of idle time in the glass with molten steel/solder and Dencorub characters (slightly Bretty?). The palate is smoky, spicy, very tannic and amazingly closed – this wine really needed a hell of a lot more breathing time.
1995 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red colour. Classic nose of cedar, capsicum and mint; the palate has soft entry, and minty/spicy cassis fruit, finishing smoky, and disturbingly with some salt/brine characters. Something didn’t seem right to me, but I was in the minority as the wine got rave comments from everyone else.
1988 Greenock Creek Shiraz (Magnum): Made from the original Creek Block. Dark red colour with a hint of brick on the rim. An open, complex and dusty nose, with hints of barnyard, dark roasted nuts, camphor, diesel, balsamic vinegar, salted celery, fish sauce and violets. The palate has a soft entry and a big, spicy, slow-crawling texture of smoky blackberries, finishing long and warm with that hint of celery and pepper with air. Mark had reservations about the Magnum when he got it, but the wine was superb; a beautifully complex and powerful wine with modest alcohol (13.2%), and an interesting follow-on from the new release Greenock Creeks we’ve been drooling over. My other favourite wine of the night.
1997 Lindemans Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon (Magnum): Dark to inky red colour with a hint of purple on the rim. A fairly closed nose at first, then with some air stinky/coffee oak, blackcurrant, formic acid and some raisins. The palate is ripe and spicy with reduced blackberries, pepper, greens, and mint that hang on to the finish. This is an underrated vintage for LR, and good bottles of this wine have been real surprise packages - this wasn’t one of them, stuck in the same awkward dumb phase the 1996 is currently going through. Luckily for me I’ve still got half the magnum left to drink over the next couple of nights!
1998 Seppelt Great Western Reserve Shiraz: Glowing inky red/purple. A huge, sweet and slightly porty nose of sweet blackberry/blackcurrants, boiled lollies and licorice. The palate is just as amazingly young and fruity, with spicy blackberries and vanilla oak. If I tried this in a blind line-up I’d pick it as a 2002 vintage; needs at least another 10 to 20 years to show its best, probably 15 to 30!
The Wilson Vineyard Polish Hill Vineyard (Late-pick) Zinfandel NV: (375ml) Dark red colour. A porty nose of raisins, coffee, greens and medicinal characters. The palate again has those over-ripe porty characters and big alcohol (15.5%) - possibly it should have been served slightly chilled. I brought this along as my masked wine, without any real clue as to what it would be like apart from a vague description that it was in between a sticky and a port. Peter was the only one to guess the wines identity, and I agree with him it wasn’t a great choice as an options wine; while it was quite interesting, I don’t think anyone liked it. I was also hoping there would be some more stickys and ports as a comparison, but Steve (707) canceled out at the last second.
1992 Stanton & Kileen Vintage Port: A rich wine with thunderous licorice and spirit characters. At the same time I was devouring my superb dessert of pure-chocolate fudge cake with fresh raspberries, so my impressions of the port were rather vague.
My thanks to everyone for another fantastic evening, especially to Mark and Nayan for thinking of it, and of course to Glen for putting this together at Cos. The food (especially the eye fillet) was just as superb as you’d said it would be, and the service was just as brilliant, going as far as to wash my decanting tools!
Cheers
Ian
1996 Pol Roger Champagne: Pale gold colour with a vigorous mouse and steady bead. Bready/yeasty nose with a hint of apricot; slightly spicy palate with some creaminess, and hints of candied orange. A nice start to the evening.
1998 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay: Medium yellow colour. Oak and aged fruit dominate the nose with deep nutty/toasty aromas. A thick spine of acid, stonefruit and tannin drive the palate at first, with some malo characters far off in the background. With some breathing the palate seems less fractured, with a nice flow of grapefruit characters, and roasted nuts on the finish. A textbook Australian Chardonnay, but it’s hard to know exactly where this is going.
1994 Pipers Brook Summit Chardonnay (Magnum): Dark glowing gold colour. Unlike the Eileen Hardy pure fruit, a perfumed sweet scent of white peach and a touch of honey dominate the nose. The palate is big and brawny, with masses of tropical fruit and nutty oak (and 14.5% alcohol) in a rather civilized battle, finishing extremely long and nutty. Peter thought like the Eileen Hardy this was rather fractured, and yet I couldn’t help but be impressed – maybe it just could last for 20 years plus?
1982 Chateau Potensac Medoc (Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc): Dark red colour with flashes of pink/brick on the rim. Very slight but beautifully perfumed nose at first of rose petals; with breathing/heavy swirling it opens up completely with a huge mixture of chalk, herbs, banana leaf and roasted capsicum. The palate was extremely elegant throughout the tasting, with mushroom, ash and smoke, finishing long and earthy with a hint of menthol. This was an exceptional bottle, and the most beautifully balanced wine – one of my favourites of the evening, somehow like combining the best elements of a newly released and gracefully aged Coonawarra Cabernet.
1991 Orlando Lawsons Padthaway Shiraz: Inky red colour. A very open and sweet/fresh nose of mint, cedar and perfume, and some menthol with breathing. The spicy palate was just as young and fresh, with reduced blackberry, capsicum and some tar. The freshness and sweetness of the bottle was a real surprise to me after trying a muddy/earthy bottle many years ago that left a poor impression. After the Medoc this really had the impression of being a big Aussie fruit-bomb, sweet, cuddly and relatively simple, but that said it was still very good and WOTN for a few people.
1991 Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark red colour. A very complex nose of bread/donut dough, cedar, concentrated tomato and some banana/vanillan oak. The palate is spicy with a seamless build-up of cassis/raspberry fruit, with hints of tar and menthol, finishing seemingly slightly alcoholic (although only 13%) with some mouthwash characters on the aftertaste. That said it was still very impressive, making me wonder if these powerful 2002 Barossa Cabernets will taste this good in another 11 years.
1989 Chateau Pradeaux Bandol (Predominantly Mourvedre): Nayan was suspicious of this bottle (he bought at auction) at first because of the absolutely perfect cork and complete absence of any crust/sediment – could this have been recorked or a fake? Bright raspberry red colour with a dark centre. Extremely closed nose at first with slight hints of smoked meats and gunpowder, only opening up with a lot of idle time in the glass with molten steel/solder and Dencorub characters (slightly Bretty?). The palate is smoky, spicy, very tannic and amazingly closed – this wine really needed a hell of a lot more breathing time.
1995 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red colour. Classic nose of cedar, capsicum and mint; the palate has soft entry, and minty/spicy cassis fruit, finishing smoky, and disturbingly with some salt/brine characters. Something didn’t seem right to me, but I was in the minority as the wine got rave comments from everyone else.
1988 Greenock Creek Shiraz (Magnum): Made from the original Creek Block. Dark red colour with a hint of brick on the rim. An open, complex and dusty nose, with hints of barnyard, dark roasted nuts, camphor, diesel, balsamic vinegar, salted celery, fish sauce and violets. The palate has a soft entry and a big, spicy, slow-crawling texture of smoky blackberries, finishing long and warm with that hint of celery and pepper with air. Mark had reservations about the Magnum when he got it, but the wine was superb; a beautifully complex and powerful wine with modest alcohol (13.2%), and an interesting follow-on from the new release Greenock Creeks we’ve been drooling over. My other favourite wine of the night.
1997 Lindemans Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon (Magnum): Dark to inky red colour with a hint of purple on the rim. A fairly closed nose at first, then with some air stinky/coffee oak, blackcurrant, formic acid and some raisins. The palate is ripe and spicy with reduced blackberries, pepper, greens, and mint that hang on to the finish. This is an underrated vintage for LR, and good bottles of this wine have been real surprise packages - this wasn’t one of them, stuck in the same awkward dumb phase the 1996 is currently going through. Luckily for me I’ve still got half the magnum left to drink over the next couple of nights!
1998 Seppelt Great Western Reserve Shiraz: Glowing inky red/purple. A huge, sweet and slightly porty nose of sweet blackberry/blackcurrants, boiled lollies and licorice. The palate is just as amazingly young and fruity, with spicy blackberries and vanilla oak. If I tried this in a blind line-up I’d pick it as a 2002 vintage; needs at least another 10 to 20 years to show its best, probably 15 to 30!
The Wilson Vineyard Polish Hill Vineyard (Late-pick) Zinfandel NV: (375ml) Dark red colour. A porty nose of raisins, coffee, greens and medicinal characters. The palate again has those over-ripe porty characters and big alcohol (15.5%) - possibly it should have been served slightly chilled. I brought this along as my masked wine, without any real clue as to what it would be like apart from a vague description that it was in between a sticky and a port. Peter was the only one to guess the wines identity, and I agree with him it wasn’t a great choice as an options wine; while it was quite interesting, I don’t think anyone liked it. I was also hoping there would be some more stickys and ports as a comparison, but Steve (707) canceled out at the last second.
1992 Stanton & Kileen Vintage Port: A rich wine with thunderous licorice and spirit characters. At the same time I was devouring my superb dessert of pure-chocolate fudge cake with fresh raspberries, so my impressions of the port were rather vague.
My thanks to everyone for another fantastic evening, especially to Mark and Nayan for thinking of it, and of course to Glen for putting this together at Cos. The food (especially the eye fillet) was just as superb as you’d said it would be, and the service was just as brilliant, going as far as to wash my decanting tools!
Cheers
Ian
