The Auswine Forum

Fabulous night with 11 attendees. Many thanks to Neville for organising; Ingrid and Mark for hosting; and the great food generously provided by all.

NV Gosset Grande Reserve Champagne
In magnum. Mid straw. Fine bubbles with medium mousse. A simple if slightly mute nose with a touch of granny smith apple and honey. Palate is surprisingly broad and finishes coarse with strong acid. Good length. Very easy to drink. Nothing special and must say Gosset has never really rocked my boat. Would’ve preferred an Aussie sparkling wine at half the price like Croser, Domaine Chandon, etc.
85/100

Chardonnays: when they’re good they’re very good. The best wine in the Giaconda portfolio.

1997 Giaconda Chardonnay
Light gold. Packed with peaches, nuts, honey oats, tropical overtones and nuances of butterscotch. Very nice but has slight AV heat on bouquet. Palate is full and textured with unctuous flavours of butter. Excellent length with a smidgin of overt oak poking out. Still retains tight acid structure. Youthful but developed. Lovely wine. My #2 of the flight. Jeremy Oliver 92/100.
90/100

1999 Giaconda Chardonnay
Darker gold. Powerful nose of ‘flattened’ unripe fruit. Much more flabby than other chardonnays in tis flight. Has a peculiar smoky quality. Palate is an acid bomb making the wine unbalanced. Lacks fruit and, as such, the hinge of balance is broken. Young yes, but too angular and awkward and I cannot see it coming into balance. A bit ‘hot’ too. Worst of flight by fair margin. JO 94/100.
83/100

2001 Giaconda Chardonnay
Light gold. Lovely nose. Similar to 04 but less pronounced. Touch of H2S. Palate is quite oaky rather than acidic. On fact it was too obvious for me. Nonetheless a good wine that starts sherbet-like but finishes bitter. My #3. JO 91/100.
87/100

2004 Giaconda Chardonnay
Mid straw. Lightest colour. A wine of beautiful precision and focus. Easily the best of the lot IMO. Gorgeous aromatics and perfumed nose with a touch of lanolin, stunning restrained fruits of hazelnuts, dry pineapple and poached pears. Palate has superb balance; in fact perhaps easily the best balanced and finest length of any table wine tonight. Lacks concentration relative to the other 3 chardonnays tonight but this wine is all about pure fruit delineation, integrated components where the oak augments the flavours yet desists from interrupting the wine’s flavours. Bigger is not necessarily better (someone tell Savaterre). Almost a youthful version of the 1997. Without a doubt, a fine wine in any context and certainly the most Burgundian of the lot. Super wine! Grand cru quality. My Giaconda WOTN. JO 93/100.
93/100

Everyone rated the wines from favourite (4pts) to least (1), with the 1997 scoring 38 points and the 04 an impressive 36. The 99 scored 20 points and the 01 18.

Next bracket was the disappointing pinot noirs. Personally these tasted like sub-$20 Aussie pinots. Don’t think I’ll be buying anymore in future – I’m really done with Aussie pinot!

1998 Giaconda Pinot Noir
Mid red, with obvious bricking. Gravelly. Dirty. Rubbery. Tired. Past it. Palate is pretty much the same: all tannin with fading fruit. JO 89/100.
74/100

2000 Giaconda Pinot Noir
Mid red, with browns. Lovely clarity. Mostly a bouquet of raspberry jubes. Simple and one dimensional and alcoholic, with a touch of capsicum. Palate is short and really weak and bland. JO 86/100.
81/100

2002 Giaconda Pinot Noir
Mid red. Very murky. Muted and subdued nose with some malt characters that I didn’t like. Palate not too bad but again, as with most Aussie pinots, acid is OTT although the primary fruit is there. A nice $15 quaffer at best. That’s all. JO 95/100.
84/100

2004 Giaconda Pinot Noir
Screwcap. Mid to dark red. Most Burgundian of flight – gamey, liquorice, plummy spicy. Palate id very good before it finishes dilute. Best length and balance but a bit like alcoholic ribena. Lacks grip too. Perhaps a $30 wine I suspect, not twice the price as asked! JO 94/100.
85/100

Group Points: 04: 39pts; 02: 26pts; 00: 18pts; 98: 17pts (three wise characters gave it 3pts, one gave it 2, six gave it 1 and one abstained from this round because she didn't like any of them!)

Cabernet flight: Very similar flight of the 3 wines giving credence to those who believe all cabernet tastes the same!

1999 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Mid red with some browning. Lightest of 4 strangely! Nose is forward and precise, with a leafiness, blackcurrants and basil. Very lovely palate with excellent balance and poise. Top length. This is a really nice wine with lovely elegance yet is still tightly coiled. The structure is there for additional cellaring but I don’t think it will get any better. Finishes sharp. My favourite of this flight and 2nd WOTN. JO 96/100.
92/100

2000 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Mid red. Dirtier and more complex than the 99 with some forest undergrowth. However palate doesn’t stand up to the 99 with a weaker structure and less integration of all components. Nice wine though. JO 90/100.
87/100

2001 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Nose muted but unravelling some initial fruit. After 20 minutes died. Palate completely stripped and cut short. Corked (although some disagreed, I was certain it was corked). JO 90/100.
NR

2003 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Deep red with hints of purple. Showing a lot of tannin on palate reflecting its youth. Similar to 99 but bigger and riper. Excellent wine that should improve. Jeremy Oliver doesn’t like this wine one bit because a smokey aspect. I didn’t get that at all. JO 80/100.
89/100

Group Points: 99 and 03: 38 points each; 00: 20pts; 01: 14pts.

Shiraz: For many, the rising star on the Giaconda horizon. For mine, still some way to go and over-rated at present although most successive vintages are getting better. The chardonnay is still numero uno!

1999 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Mid red, with purple overtones. Nose has a touch of burnt coffee and spicy plums but is still elegant. Palate has good balance, good mouth fill and supple fruit that coexists well with tannins. Lacks a bit of oomph in the weak mid palate though, and the finish prematurely capitulates. JO 96/100.
87/100

2000 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Lighter red than the 99! Beautiful bouquet redolent of smokey bacon, aniseed and sweet ripe fruits. Good length and structure. Again weak mid palate and finish that tails off. Won’t get better but a step up to the previous wine. JO 93/100.
88/100

2001 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Medium red. Black olive tapenade on nose and very oily. Palate is same, although there is a sensual texture to this wine. Perhaps better used as a massage oil. Pokey tannins too with noticeable acid. JO 95/100.
85/100

2002 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Deep purple. Again, even more black olives but more earthy and very strong black fruits. Palate is excellent – super length, built for the long haul, masses of brooding primary fruits yet still in exceptional balance. This is one that will get better and is very fine wine! Jeremy Oliver gives this 98/100!!!
91/100

Group Points: 00: 38pts; 99: 28pts; 02: 26pts (inc 4 x 4); 01, 18pts

1990 Domaine Deletang Montlouis “Les Batisses” Moelloux (Loire Valley)
12%. Light gold. Appealing nose of florals, apricots, honey, marzipan and beeswax. Palate is powerful with masses of alcohol spirit, yet there is some medium sweetness to the wine that partially offsets the astringency. Good but not exciting. Needs time.
86/100

2002 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz (Barossa Valley)
Medium purple. Sexy nose that rips from the glass, providing swirls of ripe blackcurrants, a hint of spicy oak, pepper and dark chocolate. Palate is equally impressive but not OTT or too ripe. Has a certain suppleness and creaminess that makes it so easy to drink. Restrained. Perhaps just a little short but this is exceptional wine and incredibly easy to like and drink! Velvety smooth is how I would describe it. It is a supreme expression of Barossa shiraz and shows when done well how gorgeous and refined it can be handled with masterly hands. Will it improve much? I don’t think so. But drink now and over next decade.
91/100

NV R L Buller Calliope Rare Liqueur Muscat (Rutherglen)
Deep rimmed orange with gorgeous bronze colouring. Amazing nose reeking of coffee bean, apricot peel, caramel and residual AV. Palate is stupendous, evoking stunningly complexity, supreme length, amazing balance (hard to believe this is fortified when in the mouth such is its impeccable mellifluousness), and perfect sweetness. No hint of AV on palate. This is such a delectable wine to drink that it almost took my breath away. Near perfect (lacking the mind-boggling concentration of Chambers Rare Muscat). AWESOME STUFF – I could drink this all day! A former 100/100 from RPJ.
96/100

Thanks Danny.

Not suprisingly, the best wines in your Giaconda range are the youngest. I have always found that- simply put, none of them age at all well.

Perhaps the most over-rated winery in Australia? the Southern Hemisphere? the World?.... the Emperor's new clothes, as far as I am concerned. The reviews JO gave to this winery about four years ago was the turning point in my belief in JO.... and your retrospective confirms just how far he was off the mark.

The "famed" 96 Giaconda chardy was slipped in amongst a bracket of 96 Puligny premier crus recently at an event in London I attended... and sure enough, it was basically an embarrasment.

And as for the Pinot.... geez, enough said.

A Champagne to open -

NV Gosset Grande Reserve Champagne - (from magnum)
Some toasty notes to the nose, with a hint of apricot and hazelnut. There is alright intensity of flavour on the palate but it is broad, lacking focus. There is some harshness on the finish disrupting the line and length of the wine.
84/100

Chardonnay -

1997 Giaconda Chardonnay
A rich nose, with complexity that draws you into the wine - intense aromas of honey, slightly floral honeysuckle, roasted nuts, lanolin and mellow butterscotch in the background. A luscious, delicious palate that has good texture and very good length, as well as a vein of acid bringing the richness into balance. Drinking brilliantly and at its peak. My favourite wine of this flight.
94/100

1999 Giaconda Chardonnay
This was darker in colour than the 1997. Initially the nose was fairly muted with some honey, after some time in the glass this fell over, descending into oxidised, spirity aromas. The palate was similar, starting off with a lack of character and the heading downhill. A bottle that was not a good example would be my presumption, although Oliver rates this as already past its drinking window - so maybe not.
80/100

2001 Giaconda Chardonnay
Initially asparagus and onion skins on the nose that blew off to reveal an ungenerous, reclusive nose. The palate is soft and lacks depth, finishing alcoholic and sharp. Not very pleasant.
83/100

2004 Giaconda Chardonnay
A light straw-yellow in colour. Has a tight but interesting nose that exhibits restrained peach, minerals, citrus and honeysuckle. The palate has scintillating focus with brilliant balance as well as lingering flavours and length that cannot be faulted. Excellent now, and could well be breathtaking in a couple of years with some additional complexity.
94/100

Pinot Noir -

1998 Giaconda Pinot Noir
A murky red colour with bricking around the edges. Nose showed signs from the beginning of being over the hill and descended into vinegary territory with time in the glass. The palate is dry, tannic and dead.
NR/100

2000 Giaconda Pinot Noir
Capsicum dominates the nose initially, with stalks, briar, vegetables, pepper and floral notes coming through after letting the wine breath. The palate is clean, but lacks the depth and texture of good Pinot Noir. Almost to be expected, it finishes short and watery - completing the disappointment.
80/100

2002 Giaconda Pinot Noir
The nose opens with interesting smoked meaty and gamey aromas, with background scents of cherry and raspberry. Unfortunately the palate doesn't deliver on what I thought was a promising nose. The length is alright and it seems balanced, but looking past that, it is devoid of character or interest. Drinkable, but it needs to be much more than that for the price level.
86/100

2004 Giaconda Pinot Noir
The least murky in colour of the four Pinots. The nose expresses dark cherry, violets, briar and spices with some earth and gamey notes also being hinted at. The palate is again elegant but too simple, without texture or depth. The best wine of the Pinot Noir flight, but still a letdown.
88/100

Cabernet Sauvignon -

1999 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
A nose of restrained blackcurrant, smoky notes along with a slightly funky undergrowth element to it. The palate is elegant and at the same time complex, with tingling, teasing flavours across the length of the wine. Classy texture with well integrated tannins providing backing and structure. Very enjoyable and my favourite Cabernet from this tasting.
92/100

2000 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Tobacco, blackcurrant/cassis, with some hints at floral notes as well as some more funkiness. The palate is elegant, but in this case it lacks complexity, texture and the overall impressive structure of the '99. Will drink nicely over the next couple of years, but I don't think it'll get a whole lot better.
88/100

2001 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Corked. Slightly dusty nose, with a palate that has been stripped of fruit.
NR/100

2003 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
The nose is quite reticent, revealing only some smoky, dusty and tobacco styled aromas. The palate is classy, restrained and with good structure. At odds with some critics, I found this to be enjoyable and well worth taking a look at.
89/100

Shiraz -

1999 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Lots of spice to the nose, pepper, cinnamon, briar and Chinese five spice powder. There is also some crushed pepper flavours on the palate. Finishing just a touch short, the palate is otherwise balanced and flows along a focused line.
90/100

2000 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Nice complexity on the nose of this wine with pepper, lavender, tobacco smoked meat and bacon fat. The palate is a little bit up and down across the slightly short length, lacking focus - but there is a vitality and intensity to the flavour that almost makes up for its shortcomings.
91/100

2001 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
A reserved nose of Chinese five spice, violets and earth. The palate is elegant but seems to lack some backbone and structure as well as being generally unexciting.
87/100

2002 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
Black olives, restrained black pepper, earth and spice with some nicely integrated cedary oak in the background. Structurally excellent on the palate with a superb length and a rich depth of flavour that really took this up a level. Intense and youthful but also showing balance and class. Delicious to drink and I think sure to get better with additional age, one of my favourite red wines of the night.
93/100

The others -

2000 Du Tertre (Bordeaux)
Ruined by heat damage (cooked) at some point in its life.
NR/100

1990 Domaine Deletang Montlouis “Les Batisses” Moelleux (Loire Valley)
An enticing nose of light honey, honeycomb, citrus fruits and apricot. The palate is soft and rounded, lacking in focus as well as intensity. The intensity may build with time in the bottle, but I don't know that this will reach greatness.
87/100

2002 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz (Barossa Valley)
A concentrated yet approachable nose of licorice, blueberry, some cherries as well as undertones of citrus zest with some chocolate oak influence neatly playing a supporting role. A velvety, plush and deeply fruited palate that demands drinking and not necessarily thinking. Still in its youth, but I think it is so balanced and smooth that it is drinking perfectly well at the moment with the potential to change with age, but perhaps not improve depending on how you like your wine.
92/100


NV R L Buller Calliope Rare Liqueur Muscat (Rutherglen)
Simply stunning. Coats the sides of the glass for some time after each swirl. Dark orange maple coloured with flicks of golden yellow throughout. An intoxicating, intense nose of raisins, burnt brown sugar, maple syrup, orange peel caramel and more. Viscous and unctuous palate with incredibly rich sweetness, depth and complexity and yet it is somehow fresh and balanced at the same time. A finish that seems endless. A brilliant experience.

I tried this again recently alongside the Buller Rare Tokay and while they were both superb, the Muscat was a level above the Tokay.
97/100