TN: Midweek Offline with Adair (Cos Resteraunt 2-Feb-2005)

[markg]

Gavin organised a last minute, impromptou gathering of a few Adelaidians to welcome east-coast wine personality Adair..

We gathered at Cos resteraunt in Leigh street (the second time in less than a week) and we all bought a little something from the cellar to go with our steaks and caeser salads.

As last time, the staff were very friendly and helpful, the food was great and we controlled our sheep jokes for Glens sake and resorted to the odd '..east of the Snowy mountain..' digs.

Adair started off the night with a blind white. Somewhat austere but very fresh, finishing a tad abrubt, zingy and clean with tasty citrus on the palate with nuances of goosberry. Gavin picked it right off as a Semillon and Adair revealed that is was the Tyrrells 1998 Belford Reserve, a wine that will live for ages and only improve !

Gavin then bought out another blind wine (a red this time) and nobody could guess the country or the blend of this one. A ruby color with some oh-so-slight bricking at the edges, a delightfuly earthy nose with fine traces of plum and violets. Nice, well integrated tannins, a good finish and good complexity. A very smart wine that was immediately liked by everyone present. It was an Israeli wine, a 2000 Recanati Cab Merlot from Galilee vineyards, quite a pleasant suprise.

1994 Leasingham Classic Clare Spaking Shiraz
Whilst everyone else liked this they thought it was a bit simple. I thought this was a very good sparkling wine with a pleasing nose of violets and sarsparilla and a full bodied, silky palate full of truffles, blackcurrents and violet, lovely balance and structure.

2003 Tyrrells Vat 9 Shiraz
A purple/crimson color and an very, very nice nose. A medium palate with elegant flavours, good tannins, good length and nice plummy/cherry flavours with hints of violets.

1991 St Hallet Old Block Shiraz
The color on this was a gorgeous, glowing red with hues of orange, like looking into the glowing coals on an open fire. When it was first opened both the nose and palate were a bit tight but they simply blossomed after a few hours. A magnificent nose with a medium bodied, elegant palate of silky, fine chocolates, some tobacco, fruits and superbly integrated tannins, finishing long and very, very fine. A magnificent wine at it peak, with a remarkable balance of lingering primary fruit flavours, graciously giving way to more developed and aged characteristics.

1998 Branson Coach House
Made by Rolf Binder and praised by Robert Parker I was curious to try this wine. Its color was a deep, dark purple with a concentrated nose of mulberry and coffee bean. A big, powerful, full bodied red with fleshy tannins it drowned out my senses after the subtelty of the Old Block and needs alot more years to tame it.

1996 Greenock Creek Creek Block Shiraz
After having the 1988 Creek Block the other night I was looking forward to this wine to see how they progress. It was big and powerful, meaty & rich with loads of fruit wrapped in thick, adhesive layers of licorice, almost like a current release Creek Block but slightly more approachable. The Creek Blocks need at least 10 to 15 years untouched before they start to become approachable and this one probably needs another 5 even before it is thought of again.

2003 Schwartz Nitschke Block Shiraz
Gavin bought this for us to try (also to tease us as he has sold out of them the git!). A very powerful, ripe nose of plums and cherry with wonderful, immense flavours of gooseberry, chocolate and redcurrant, long and very persistent it was an outstanding wine that all wanted to know where we to get it from only to find out it gets shipped overseas (except for the dribble that Gavin sells).

Glen then served up a dessert wine blind. A nose of marmalade and quinces with a luscious, full bodied palate of quince, marmalade and layers of fine apricot. Very, very nice. We were all pleasantly suprised to find it was a Canadian 2001 Reisling Icewine.

[Gavin Trott]

2003 Schwartz Nitschke Block Shiraz
Gavin bought this for us to try (also to tease us as he has sold out of them the git!). A very powerful, ripe nose of plums and cherry with wonderful, immense flavours of gooseberry, chocolate and redcurrant, long and very persistent it was an outstanding wine that all wanted to know where we to get it from only to find out it gets shipped overseas (except for the dribble that Gavin sells).

Glen then served up a dessert wine blind. A nose of marmalade and quinces with a luscious, full bodied palate of quince, marmalade and layers of fine apricot. Very, very nice. We were all pleasantly suprised to find it was a Canadian 2001 Reisling Icewine.

Well if I hadn't sold out I wouldn't have brought it along, didn't want the dinner to be a sort of sales pitch.

Lovely meal again, great company.

The Icewine was stunning I thought, love to have some myself, but pretty hard to find.