Riesling Class:
Crawford River '04.
Brilliant, young and the suprise of the night as it was so good, racy, excellent fruit, and will live for decades!
Pipers Brook '04
Very typical of the name, understated, smooth apples & pear, rounded, no high acids.
Frankland Estate "Cooladerra" Vineyard '04.
Like the Pipers, understated, but more talcum & lime, but once again, no high acid, good palate length, some minerality.
Heggies Eden Valley '99.
Under stelvin, still retaining some youthfull lime/citrus and zesty acid. Will age well. Lovely.
Grosset Plosh Hill '99.
The disapointmant of the group, both bottles the same. Either in a very awkward phase (like gangly adolesence) or just all out of place and too developed next to a stelvin of the same year (Heggies) I don't know, but it was lost. Unpleaseant, outlcassed.
JL Wolf Jesuitgarten '01.
And this just shone after the Grosset. Brilliant wine, more in the pear/apple spectrum, almost Pinot Gris like, but great length and persistancy, well liked by all.
Trimbach Frederich Emile '99.
Another dissapontment as both bottles seemed oxidised and very developed. I know '99 was not such a grand year in Alsace, but not that bad! Sent both bottles back to supplier with a big question mark as to storage conditions.
Trimbach Clos St Hune '99.
A true education in riesling. Imagine the tightest red or Chablis you've ever drunk, finding the wine tightly coiled up and not displaying ANYTHING. You swirl & shake the glass, leave it for a while, look at it again, nope still tight. Multiply that by ten and you get the picture. The one thing this wine had that gave a hint as to the years, no, decades, it will take to strut it's stuff (and it will strut!) is a laser beam pin point of intense fruit that went forever on the palate. And I mean FOREVER!. BY far the longest palate I have experienced in any wine, ever. At around $190 a bottle, it would want to. But a real lesson, this one.
Chardonnay Class:
I'd had the Melbourne East offline the night before this class (12 Shiraz no less) and felt a little palate weary!
William Fevre "Vaudesir" Grand Cru Chablis '00.
Still quite tight, displaying racy acids and steely minerals with a core of focused fruit. Great length. Obviously still young, still to show smoothness, but very good nontheless. Will age well.
Main Ridge Estate '01.
Perhaps a little out of its league against the best, but held well against a couple of the far more expensive ones. Drinking well, intense fruit, very well made wine, good length, elegant.
Mount Mary '00.
Had its butt kicked by the Main Ridge at $20 cheaper,as it showed poorly for its price. A tad fat & uninteresting, lacking charm.
Petaluma Tiers '01.
And just to keep the butt kicking going, this wine came along. What is Mr Croser thinking?!? In a word....shit!
Leeuwin Art Series '99.
Now, how poor value both the MM and the Tiers are just got rudely emphasised by one of the best Aussie chardonnays I've ever had. Rates up there with the '96 Giaconda, but differrent. Obviously Australian, but a shining beacon of quality, structure & length. A beauty!! ANd I've got 6 more left in the cellar (doing a little dance as I type that!).
Fromme La Strada '99.
A logical step from Australia to France,as it shows more mineral, mealy & stone fruit flavours. Very good quality, drinking close to its best, great length.
Olivier Leflaive Chassagne Montrachet '97.
Opened with trademark mealy pong on the nose that led to classic mealy, savoury, mineral notes with stone fruit flavours. Pretty good for a village wine. Good length.
Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne '01.
Whilst not as obvious as the Leeuwin, it had understated power. This wine had been double decanted three hours before and was still a little closed up, but continued to evolve in the glass. Its sheer class was evident in the wonderfull structure and length of palate, it will need another ten years at least to really show its true worth. But, an awsome wine!
Next up is the Sauvignon Blanc/Semiilon class (with a whole baked wild Barramundi no less!).
Rory
