TN: Blacktongues 1996 Cabernets 11/5/05
Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 1:01 am
For those of you not familiar with these events all the following wines were tried blind, and after about an hour all participants voted for their most preferred, two next preferred and their least preferred drops.
I’ve included my own impressions and rankings, the group votes, and a group ranking based on most preferred votes counting for double, second and third one vote, and least preferred minus one vote.
Not surprisingly this was a very strong group of wines, with two standouts top wines and one very much least preferred. My thanks again to Steve for putting this together.
1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red with a hint of purple on the rim. A classic Coonawarra nose to begin the evening, with chalk, tar, concentrated tomato and some elegant vanillan/cedar oak accents. The palate is sweet and powerful on entry with ample cassis fruit and powdery tannins powering through the mid-palate making the wine seamless, finishing with great length and a touch of licorice.
My ranking: =2nd place
Panel ranking: 3rd place
Votes: 2 most, 5 second & third, 0 least
1996 Mildara Robertson’s Well Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red. A more exotic nose than the Wynns at first, with beetroot, tomato and cedar, before becoming rather stinky with some diesel fumes, and finally some chalk. Likewise the palate opens with beetroot, followed by tangy/sweet fruit before dropping away rather sharply, exposing those fine tannins mid-palate. The finish was short at first, but improved towards the end of the tasting where it was also decidedly funky – a very unusual wine.
My ranking: =5th place
Panel ranking: 4th place
Votes: 2 most preferred, 6 second & third, 2 least
1996 Saltram Mamre Brook Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon: Everything about this wine was on a grand scale from the very first glance; dark to inky purple/red with some crust. The nose is dominated by a powerful, clever concoction of sweet cedar, and banana/coconut from a big oak injection that somehow doesn’t seem out of place. The palate is reserved on entry, slowly building up to a powerful-mid palate with chewy/sweet tannin, tangy cassis/blackberry fruit, finishing extremely long with some tobacco spit. This always had a heavyweight feel, so it was quite a surprise to see this little bargain label when the bags were taken off. I hope the 2002 is this good in another six years time – the outright WOTN of the panel.
My ranking: 1st place
Panel ranking: 1st place
Votes: 6 most, 6 second & third, 0 least
1996 Malcolm Creek Kersbrook Cabernet Sauvignon: This was one of those annoying cases where for about half the session we were deciding whether the wine was corked or not. After this time we finally decided the TCA was bad enough for the wine to be excluded from the panel.
Corked and not rated
1996 Lake Breeze Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red/purple colour. An elegant and classic nose of cedar, tomato, ozone, seaweed and graphite that seemed to polarize the panel. The palate differs from the nose in being extremely ripe with a hint of raisin on entry, followed by a beautiful mixture of dark chocolate/red fruits mid-palate, and finishing with rather dry tannins. The structure of the wine was elegant and excellent, but the ripeness and dry finish left me with a question mark at the end of my notes.
My ranking: 4th place
Panel ranking: 6th place
Votes: 1 most, 4 second & third, 3 least
1996 Turkey Flat Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red colour. A repulsive nose of diesel fumes, hot asphalt, burnt rubber and roadkill – Bolivar on a bad day; with breathing there’s a hint of chocolate, but also heavily charred oak. The palate opens sweetly, but turns just as stinky/funky as the nose mid-palate, finishing with a mixture of toast, butter and chocolate. The structure and length of the palate are good, but overall the flavours are simply disgusting – dead last by a long, long margin.
My ranking: 8th place
Panel ranking: 8th place
Votes: 0 most, 1 second & third, 9 least
1996 Orlando Jacaranda Ridge Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red/purple colour. It’s hard to imagine a wine could be more regional in style than the Wynns, but here it is; a fantastic nose of peppermint, chalk, capsicum and cedar reflect an excellent balance of fruit and classy French oak. The classic structure is predictably chalky and tannic, wrapped around the minty/peppery fruit finishing with great length. The Wynns impressed me with brawn, while this was just as impressive with its finesse – and it’s barely waking up!
My ranking: =2nd place
Panel ranking: 5th place
Votes: 1 most, 6 second and third, 1 least
1996 Punters Corner Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red. Like many of the wines the nose opens very elegantly with a burst of sweet cedar, before becoming surprisingly ripe at times with cocoa, fireplace oak, ozone and some raisin. The palate features a very tight structure matched to surprisingly ripe blackberry/chocolate fruit. Craig suspected this may have been slightly oxidized; it was certainly not expected for the label.
My ranking: 7th place
Panel ranking: 7th place
Votes: 1 most, 2 second & third, 3 least
1996 Balnaves Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red. The nose is reserved and elegant, with cedar oak, tomato leaf and some dried herbs. The palate was again reserved and finely balanced, with sweet cassis and tangy tomato characters, and a great finish in the mouth. I thought it probably needed more breathing time to bring out its best, but most of the panel thought it was superb already and voted it second overall.
My ranking: =5th place
Panel ranking: 2nd place
Votes: 4 most, 7 second & third, 0 least
1996 Katnook Estate Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Unlike the Malcolm Creek this was easily recognized as horrendously corked from the first glass poured – what a shame.
Corked and not rated
Cheers,
Ian
I’ve included my own impressions and rankings, the group votes, and a group ranking based on most preferred votes counting for double, second and third one vote, and least preferred minus one vote.
Not surprisingly this was a very strong group of wines, with two standouts top wines and one very much least preferred. My thanks again to Steve for putting this together.
1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red with a hint of purple on the rim. A classic Coonawarra nose to begin the evening, with chalk, tar, concentrated tomato and some elegant vanillan/cedar oak accents. The palate is sweet and powerful on entry with ample cassis fruit and powdery tannins powering through the mid-palate making the wine seamless, finishing with great length and a touch of licorice.
My ranking: =2nd place
Panel ranking: 3rd place
Votes: 2 most, 5 second & third, 0 least
1996 Mildara Robertson’s Well Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red. A more exotic nose than the Wynns at first, with beetroot, tomato and cedar, before becoming rather stinky with some diesel fumes, and finally some chalk. Likewise the palate opens with beetroot, followed by tangy/sweet fruit before dropping away rather sharply, exposing those fine tannins mid-palate. The finish was short at first, but improved towards the end of the tasting where it was also decidedly funky – a very unusual wine.
My ranking: =5th place
Panel ranking: 4th place
Votes: 2 most preferred, 6 second & third, 2 least
1996 Saltram Mamre Brook Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon: Everything about this wine was on a grand scale from the very first glance; dark to inky purple/red with some crust. The nose is dominated by a powerful, clever concoction of sweet cedar, and banana/coconut from a big oak injection that somehow doesn’t seem out of place. The palate is reserved on entry, slowly building up to a powerful-mid palate with chewy/sweet tannin, tangy cassis/blackberry fruit, finishing extremely long with some tobacco spit. This always had a heavyweight feel, so it was quite a surprise to see this little bargain label when the bags were taken off. I hope the 2002 is this good in another six years time – the outright WOTN of the panel.
My ranking: 1st place
Panel ranking: 1st place
Votes: 6 most, 6 second & third, 0 least
1996 Malcolm Creek Kersbrook Cabernet Sauvignon: This was one of those annoying cases where for about half the session we were deciding whether the wine was corked or not. After this time we finally decided the TCA was bad enough for the wine to be excluded from the panel.
Corked and not rated
1996 Lake Breeze Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red/purple colour. An elegant and classic nose of cedar, tomato, ozone, seaweed and graphite that seemed to polarize the panel. The palate differs from the nose in being extremely ripe with a hint of raisin on entry, followed by a beautiful mixture of dark chocolate/red fruits mid-palate, and finishing with rather dry tannins. The structure of the wine was elegant and excellent, but the ripeness and dry finish left me with a question mark at the end of my notes.
My ranking: 4th place
Panel ranking: 6th place
Votes: 1 most, 4 second & third, 3 least
1996 Turkey Flat Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red colour. A repulsive nose of diesel fumes, hot asphalt, burnt rubber and roadkill – Bolivar on a bad day; with breathing there’s a hint of chocolate, but also heavily charred oak. The palate opens sweetly, but turns just as stinky/funky as the nose mid-palate, finishing with a mixture of toast, butter and chocolate. The structure and length of the palate are good, but overall the flavours are simply disgusting – dead last by a long, long margin.
My ranking: 8th place
Panel ranking: 8th place
Votes: 0 most, 1 second & third, 9 least
1996 Orlando Jacaranda Ridge Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red/purple colour. It’s hard to imagine a wine could be more regional in style than the Wynns, but here it is; a fantastic nose of peppermint, chalk, capsicum and cedar reflect an excellent balance of fruit and classy French oak. The classic structure is predictably chalky and tannic, wrapped around the minty/peppery fruit finishing with great length. The Wynns impressed me with brawn, while this was just as impressive with its finesse – and it’s barely waking up!
My ranking: =2nd place
Panel ranking: 5th place
Votes: 1 most, 6 second and third, 1 least
1996 Punters Corner Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red. Like many of the wines the nose opens very elegantly with a burst of sweet cedar, before becoming surprisingly ripe at times with cocoa, fireplace oak, ozone and some raisin. The palate features a very tight structure matched to surprisingly ripe blackberry/chocolate fruit. Craig suspected this may have been slightly oxidized; it was certainly not expected for the label.
My ranking: 7th place
Panel ranking: 7th place
Votes: 1 most, 2 second & third, 3 least
1996 Balnaves Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky red. The nose is reserved and elegant, with cedar oak, tomato leaf and some dried herbs. The palate was again reserved and finely balanced, with sweet cassis and tangy tomato characters, and a great finish in the mouth. I thought it probably needed more breathing time to bring out its best, but most of the panel thought it was superb already and voted it second overall.
My ranking: =5th place
Panel ranking: 2nd place
Votes: 4 most, 7 second & third, 0 least
1996 Katnook Estate Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon: Unlike the Malcolm Creek this was easily recognized as horrendously corked from the first glass poured – what a shame.
Corked and not rated
Cheers,
Ian
