TN: 2 modest Alsatians + Oz reds from smaller regions
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:45 pm
Eschewing South Australia, the Noble Rotters April 2005 dinner was intended to focus on (mostly) less heralded areas in Victoria and Western Australia. Approved regions for reds were; (Vic) Beechworth, Geelong, Gippsland, Grampians, Macedon, Pyrenees, Sunbury, (WA) Frankland, Geographe, Mt Barker, Swan Valley, and (NSW) Hilltops. A pair of Alsatian rieslings rescued by Andrew and brought along to start were;
2003 Jean Meyer 'l'Auguste' Riesling (Alsace)[screwcap]
2002 Jean Meyer 'l'Auguste' Riesling (Alsace)
The 2003 displayed sweet apple/nectarine aromas, with flowery, estery overtones. There is a faintly reductive hint about the nose as well. I found the palate surprisingly thick and soft, with reticent acids. Something of a disappointment, and even more so when compared to the 2002. This also shows some apple fruit, with additional apricot and honey tones. The palate is glorious, fresh zippy acid giving great lift to the mid-palate. Super wine. A far better balanced and more complete wine than the 03, which presumably suffered from the viciously heatwave that summer.
And on with the themed wine...
1999 Alkoomi 'Jarrah' Shiraz (Frankland River, WA)
Deep purple/red. Bright raspberry/pepper fruit, with a little choco-vanilla oak underlying. Fresh and clean on the palate; the powerful initial impact of fruit is quite warm, but this initial bloom of flavour does wane rather quickly. Pretty nice wine, though.
2000 Dalwhinnie Cabernet Sauvignon (Pyrenees, Vic)
1998 Best's Cabernet Sauvignon (Great Western/Grampians)
The Dalwhinnie is dark red. The nose is pure deep-chested cassis and blackcurrant. There's underlying cedary oak, and a little eucalyptus note at the end (which grows a little as the wine sits in the glass). The interplay of structural components across the palate is fantastic - there are no holes. It's mid-weight in terms of body, but deft acid and fine tannins combine with perfectly ripened fruit to give a finish that just lasts and lasts. Terrific drink, and generally agreed to be wine-of-the-night. The Best's was not shamed by any means, however. The nose is not dissimilar initially, but perhaps the herbaceous (yet ripe) eucalypt notes are more prominent. With some time, there were some strong lanolin aromas emerging. A wine that smells like a sheep-station - in the best way! It's still hugely fruity on the palate, the acid is gentle and the fine tannins bloom quickly. The finish is a little coarser than Dalwhinnie, but it's still a lovely wine by any standard.
1992 Taltarni Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Pyrenees)
Provenance was unknown with this wine (an auction buy of mine), but physical appearances indicated no problem. The wine is still quite a dark red. There's some subdued smoky black fruit initially, with a slightly sweaty note. Even after all this time, the wine is still quite tannic on the palate. They're quality tannins, but now tending a little toward hardness. There's warmth too, despite only 12.7% alcohol. The palate structure's pretty good - I detected no great holes anywhere - but the secondary characteristics haven't developed any great complexity. As the wine continues to sit in the glass it begins to flatten out, suggesting remaining bottles need to be drunk soon. Not bad, but considering the sporadic vintaging of this flagship wine I'd expected something better.
1998 Virgin Hills (Macedon Ranges)
Always the 'IF' wine - you never know whether you're going to meet with triumph or disaster as far as Virgin Hills is concerned. Some releases have been chronic indeed! This wine is an encouraging dark red, with an attractive nose of meaty blood and bone. On the palate it's surprisingly bright, with clean, biting fruit. No blockbuster, the medium-weight flavours tend towards the front end of the palate. It's quite a subtle wine, understated structural elements meshing tidily enough. A successful vintage and a good wine. Probably best within 5 years or so.
2003 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz (Bendigo/Grampians)[screwcap]
2003 Shiraz by Farr (Geelong)
1998 Gilberts Shiraz (Mt Barker)
Three very different shirazes served together. The Chalambar is bright red, with very young aromas, slightly raw-smelling dark peppery and cinnamon notes among them. It's weighty on the palate, finely tannic, pleasant if a little clunky at this young stage. The balance is good, the finish is disjointed, but nothing that some cellar time won't cure. Very good value at $18-odd. By Farr is instantly polarizing, with an almost overwhelming blast of H2S leading the first assault on the nose. Once over that, it seems to present aromas at the very far end of the brettanomyces spectrum. Smells like a cross between a cow pat festival and the toilets at Gare d'Avignon. Very funky and earthy. Feral, even. The palate is mildly tannic, with a medium length finish only. Hard to know what to make of this. Fertiliser, perhaps? Time in the decanter helps a little, but you've got to like poopy wines... Gilberts is quite a deep red still. The nose is restrained, soft, subtle, with gentle mixed red berry aromas. Clean on the palate, still tannic, but the overall impression is of a somewhat simple wine.
Getting harder to take comprehensible notes now, the wines have generally been very good and the dump bucket is getting lonely...
1993 Seppelt Great Western Shiraz
1997 Seppelt Great Western Shiraz
1998 Seppelt St Peters Shiraz (Great Western)
The 1993 is a mid-red colour. A gentle, leathery, faintly earthy nose carries the faintest whiff of VA. Lovely soft entry onto the palate; the acid and tannins have melded gracefully into a seamless whole. There's some charcoal-sweet flavours too amid a medium-weight, respectable length finish. The back palate is a bit weak, but that's a mild criticism. Very attractive wine showing no signs of falling over whatsoever. The 1997 has some smoked fruit, but it's masked by a slightly bilgey, dirty note on the nose. The palate is rather hollow and there's no length of finish at all. The longer this sits in the glass, the more convinced I am it has a very low level TCA taint. If not, then certainly a faulty bottle for one reason or another. The 1998 is a very dark red indeed. Quality pepper fruit, brambles, and a lashing of toasty oak. The palate adds a sweet licorice twist too, although there's no sign of any secondary development yet. Tannins are sandy-fine. Long persistent finish. A very fine wine, but needs another 10 years cellaring to develop real interest.
1980 Lindemans Bin 5733 'Vintage Port'
A dark black red. Nose like a paint shop. Bandy spirit is very prominent. Some strawberry underneath. Warm and alcoholic on the palate, but not a long finish. Hard to judge properly at this late hour...
Cheers,
Graeme
2003 Jean Meyer 'l'Auguste' Riesling (Alsace)[screwcap]
2002 Jean Meyer 'l'Auguste' Riesling (Alsace)
The 2003 displayed sweet apple/nectarine aromas, with flowery, estery overtones. There is a faintly reductive hint about the nose as well. I found the palate surprisingly thick and soft, with reticent acids. Something of a disappointment, and even more so when compared to the 2002. This also shows some apple fruit, with additional apricot and honey tones. The palate is glorious, fresh zippy acid giving great lift to the mid-palate. Super wine. A far better balanced and more complete wine than the 03, which presumably suffered from the viciously heatwave that summer.
And on with the themed wine...
1999 Alkoomi 'Jarrah' Shiraz (Frankland River, WA)
Deep purple/red. Bright raspberry/pepper fruit, with a little choco-vanilla oak underlying. Fresh and clean on the palate; the powerful initial impact of fruit is quite warm, but this initial bloom of flavour does wane rather quickly. Pretty nice wine, though.
2000 Dalwhinnie Cabernet Sauvignon (Pyrenees, Vic)
1998 Best's Cabernet Sauvignon (Great Western/Grampians)
The Dalwhinnie is dark red. The nose is pure deep-chested cassis and blackcurrant. There's underlying cedary oak, and a little eucalyptus note at the end (which grows a little as the wine sits in the glass). The interplay of structural components across the palate is fantastic - there are no holes. It's mid-weight in terms of body, but deft acid and fine tannins combine with perfectly ripened fruit to give a finish that just lasts and lasts. Terrific drink, and generally agreed to be wine-of-the-night. The Best's was not shamed by any means, however. The nose is not dissimilar initially, but perhaps the herbaceous (yet ripe) eucalypt notes are more prominent. With some time, there were some strong lanolin aromas emerging. A wine that smells like a sheep-station - in the best way! It's still hugely fruity on the palate, the acid is gentle and the fine tannins bloom quickly. The finish is a little coarser than Dalwhinnie, but it's still a lovely wine by any standard.
1992 Taltarni Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Pyrenees)
Provenance was unknown with this wine (an auction buy of mine), but physical appearances indicated no problem. The wine is still quite a dark red. There's some subdued smoky black fruit initially, with a slightly sweaty note. Even after all this time, the wine is still quite tannic on the palate. They're quality tannins, but now tending a little toward hardness. There's warmth too, despite only 12.7% alcohol. The palate structure's pretty good - I detected no great holes anywhere - but the secondary characteristics haven't developed any great complexity. As the wine continues to sit in the glass it begins to flatten out, suggesting remaining bottles need to be drunk soon. Not bad, but considering the sporadic vintaging of this flagship wine I'd expected something better.
1998 Virgin Hills (Macedon Ranges)
Always the 'IF' wine - you never know whether you're going to meet with triumph or disaster as far as Virgin Hills is concerned. Some releases have been chronic indeed! This wine is an encouraging dark red, with an attractive nose of meaty blood and bone. On the palate it's surprisingly bright, with clean, biting fruit. No blockbuster, the medium-weight flavours tend towards the front end of the palate. It's quite a subtle wine, understated structural elements meshing tidily enough. A successful vintage and a good wine. Probably best within 5 years or so.
2003 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz (Bendigo/Grampians)[screwcap]
2003 Shiraz by Farr (Geelong)
1998 Gilberts Shiraz (Mt Barker)
Three very different shirazes served together. The Chalambar is bright red, with very young aromas, slightly raw-smelling dark peppery and cinnamon notes among them. It's weighty on the palate, finely tannic, pleasant if a little clunky at this young stage. The balance is good, the finish is disjointed, but nothing that some cellar time won't cure. Very good value at $18-odd. By Farr is instantly polarizing, with an almost overwhelming blast of H2S leading the first assault on the nose. Once over that, it seems to present aromas at the very far end of the brettanomyces spectrum. Smells like a cross between a cow pat festival and the toilets at Gare d'Avignon. Very funky and earthy. Feral, even. The palate is mildly tannic, with a medium length finish only. Hard to know what to make of this. Fertiliser, perhaps? Time in the decanter helps a little, but you've got to like poopy wines... Gilberts is quite a deep red still. The nose is restrained, soft, subtle, with gentle mixed red berry aromas. Clean on the palate, still tannic, but the overall impression is of a somewhat simple wine.
Getting harder to take comprehensible notes now, the wines have generally been very good and the dump bucket is getting lonely...
1993 Seppelt Great Western Shiraz
1997 Seppelt Great Western Shiraz
1998 Seppelt St Peters Shiraz (Great Western)
The 1993 is a mid-red colour. A gentle, leathery, faintly earthy nose carries the faintest whiff of VA. Lovely soft entry onto the palate; the acid and tannins have melded gracefully into a seamless whole. There's some charcoal-sweet flavours too amid a medium-weight, respectable length finish. The back palate is a bit weak, but that's a mild criticism. Very attractive wine showing no signs of falling over whatsoever. The 1997 has some smoked fruit, but it's masked by a slightly bilgey, dirty note on the nose. The palate is rather hollow and there's no length of finish at all. The longer this sits in the glass, the more convinced I am it has a very low level TCA taint. If not, then certainly a faulty bottle for one reason or another. The 1998 is a very dark red indeed. Quality pepper fruit, brambles, and a lashing of toasty oak. The palate adds a sweet licorice twist too, although there's no sign of any secondary development yet. Tannins are sandy-fine. Long persistent finish. A very fine wine, but needs another 10 years cellaring to develop real interest.
1980 Lindemans Bin 5733 'Vintage Port'
A dark black red. Nose like a paint shop. Bandy spirit is very prominent. Some strawberry underneath. Warm and alcoholic on the palate, but not a long finish. Hard to judge properly at this late hour...
Cheers,
Graeme