TN's from a recent Barossa Trip

[Wizz]

Barossa Trip,13/9/03


Introduction

This was another business trip to Adelaide that got extended to include a side trip to a nearby wine region. In this case I was able to time the trip with the opening day of the Greenock Creek cellar door for 2003.

Prequalifiers for these notes: once again it was cold, somewhere around 10 degrees, and raining, so the volatiles in the wines were fairly muted. I also have the tail end of some hay fever, and I suspect I’m not picking up the full fruit intensity of some of these wines.

Didn’t take notes everywhere, it was just impossible at Greenock Creek,and Torbreck was a throwaway at the end and I wasn’t in the mood to take notes.

Also, all of the notes I did take have mysteriously disappeared. Again! Swear to god I put themin my hand luggage, but when I got on the plane they were gone! So this lot are impressions from memory. Dammit.

Anyway, here are some brief notes, largely from memory.


Charles Cimicky

The first surprise of the day: The tasting glasses at Cimicky are Riedel’s!!! Apparently the winery won them somewhere and decided to use them in the CD.

01 Shiraz Grenache: At $10/bottle, this is a bargain. Meaty grenache, some plummy shiraz, solid core of fruit and good length.

01 Cleanskin Cab Shiraz Merlot: Also good at $150/case!

And regrettably, my memory of the Cimicky premiums is completely lost. They were all 2000's, and while good, didnt quite stack up to many other wines on the day.



Burge Family

02 Olive Hill Riesling: More in the forward, fruit sweet slightly spritzy style. Nice, but give me a steely Clare Valley job any time.

02 Semillon: Glowing green yellow, restrained fruit, and a savoury hint, a little barrel treatment? Good.

01 Clochemerle: This is strange stuff. The bright, "look at me" grenache with the dark, brooding "bugger off and leave me alone" cabernet. Doesn't work for me.

01 Olive Hill SMG: Deep set meaty, spicy nose, and add plums and subtle oak for a well balanced, well structured SMG blend. Really good, and good buying in the high $20's

01 Draycott Shiraz: Embarrasingly all I recall is that this was a lot more fruit driven than the other reds on the day, rich plummy and intense. Not overoaked, not over hot, not overjammy, just right. Good buying at $38.



Charles Melton

01 Nine Popes: Rich Purple. Liqueured berries and cherry nose, leading to a juicy similar palate of the same fruits, some spice and a hint of chocolatey oak in support. A good wine, but the Olive Hill GSM gets the nod from me.

01 Barossa Shiraz: Red Purple. Dark fruit and coffee nose. Inky blackberry, again a juicy palate. Subtle oak, and finishes tightly with some fine grained tannin. Very nice.

01 Cabernet: Inky purple black. Cassis nose, fleshy fruit based palate, and a minty note. Soft tannin, and this has soaked up new french oak surprisingly well. Nice wine.


Whistler

Stopped at Whistler on the way to Greenock Creek as we had plenty of time to spare. The 01 Shiraz was sold out, so we looked at the Cabernet (oxidised), the Merlot ( undistinguished) and the blend of the two, which was the best of the reds. Also loked at a late harvest semillon (non botrytis), which was very pleasant. These were probably good wines, but between the hay fever thing and the quality and weight of the other wines we saw on the day, these were hard to rate.



Greenock Creek

The reason for the trip. Crowded cellar door, rain, interesting experience overall, but more on that another time. Again, apologies for the brevity.

02 Cornerstone: Strongly red-fruited, but sweet and medicinal. Pass.

01 Cabernet: As you would expect, not very varietal, but a nice wine: sweet dark fruits, viscous palate, good length. Bought some.

01 Alice’s Block: Bitter chocolate. Heaps of it. Some dark berries too. 15.5% Alcohol, and there is enough in the palate to contain it. Bought some.

01 Apricot Block: 16% Alcohol. Couldn’t get any varietal definition at all from this, just some generic dark fruits and a mentholly character. Perhaps less oaky than the Alices, but I passed on this as well. Some will like the style, but too over the top for me. Didnt buy.

01 Seven Acre: A measly 14.5% Alcohol. I’m Afraid my memory fails me a bit on this, but this was the most approachable of the shiraz on tasting, much more fruit driven than the other two. Bought my fill of this.

Creek Block and the Roennfelt Road wines not on tasting.

Hopefully the 02’s will be a bit tamer than these were.



Torbreck

Impressions only on these, as it was late in the day and the palate was tiring. Having said that I was pleasantyl surprised at the all around quality on show. We tried:

02 Viognier/Marsanne/Roussane: Nice, and different. Apricot and musk, plus complexity for the marsanne and rousanne, couldnt find descriptors for these. Thought this would be an excellent match with soft cheese.

02 Woodcutters Red: A surprise. Good quality fruit and spice, and great colour. Nice.

02 Juveniles: Lovely. Plump juicy fruit, and a tobacco note. Would be a good options wine.

01 Steading: To me this was the least of the wines we tried. The fruit tones of the Juveniles toned down, plus a bit of oak softening this out.

01 Struie: Some Eden Valley fruit included here. It shows in a fine white pepper note over some lovely shiraz fruit. Concentrated and good length. Very good.

01 Descendent: Viognier florals & apricots on the nose. Some brooding dark fruits, cracked pepper and a subtle spicy lift. Great example of a shiraz viognier blend.

01 The Factor: Shiraz. And excellent shiraz at that. Plum, spice, reserved oak, blackberry, concentration, length. Very nice.

02 The Bothie: Fortified Muscat a petit grains. Go on, admit it. You really do like sweet wines but wont admit it cos your grandmother liked stuff like this. But this is fun, a real grapey passionfruity wine, which despite the residual sugar and light fortification is a bunch of fun and would make a great aperitif, particularly in the warm climes. Yum.


Overall impression of Torbreck is very high quality, but sadly overpriced. As an example, I reckon Descendant and Factor would be fair at around $60, or bargains at $40.

The wines would all make excellent food wines.


Picks of the day:

01 Burge Family Draycott
01 Burge Family SMG
01 Charles Melton Shiraz
01 The Struie
01 Descendant (but poor value).
01 The Factor (but poor value).

Until next time,
Andrew

[George Krashos]

Hehe, I was in the Barossa that day also but only went (as per usual) to Charles Melton and Rockford - it was magnum day you see, got the 01 Popes and Barossa Shiraz as well as the 99 Basket Press.

Bitterly cold, although the fires at both Charlies and Rockford hit the spot. Was amused by all the Greenock Creek people who had to queue in the rain and wind - with all the money Greenock have made since being anointed by Parker, you'd think they'd at least spring for a marquee.

Heard the Roenfeldt Road releases were $160/bottle. Anyone got a view on QPR? Personally, as I could buy 4 x Basket Press or 7-ish x Thorn Clarke for that, I won't be buying any soon. Interested to hear what others think though ...

-- George Krashos