The Auswine Forum

As usual all the following wines were tasted blind, and after just under an hour all 16 participants voted for their most preferred, two next preferred and their least preferred drops. The panel ranking is devised using first preferred votes counting for double in the calculations.

The number of 1998 vintage tastings this year has pushed the Cabernet & Super Cabernet tastings back, and the conditions for this tasting honestly wasn’t the greatest. It was 35C outside, and while the climate control in the store downstairs was working perfectly it was a different story in the tasting room. The ventilation wasn’t working properly and while it was quite reasonable to start with, 16 people at a table talking generates a bit of heat, so by the end of the tasting it was a bit uncomfortable. While the wines were enjoyable, even the best of them seemed to be knocked around by the heat at the very end of the tasting.


2001 Hardys Padthaway Cabernet Sauvignon $17: Dark to almost inky red colour with a hint of purple on the rim. Toasty at first with a hint of dark coal and acid, followed by ripe blackcurrant fruit; clean mid-weight palate of blackcurrant fruit and well handled spicy oak with excellent length. This was a bit of a surprise packet considering some of the bigger priced/reputation wines in the tasting.

My ranking: 3rd place
Panel ranking: =6th place

Votes: 0 most, 4 second & third, 1 least preferred



2004 Leconfield Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon $19: Dark to inky red with a hint of purple. Reserved but perfumed nose of cassis, cedar and a hint of black olive; gorgeous full-bodied palate of rich cassis fruit and a grainy, long structure. I tried this the week before and liked it equally as much; this excellent wine is more a reflection of Paul Gordon’s winemaking than the traditional green/breezy style we normally associate with Leconfield.

My ranking: 2nd place
Panel ranking: 3rd place

Votes: 2 most, 7 second & third, 1 least preferred



2002 Barossa Valley Estate Ebenezer Cabernet Sauvignon $25: Dark to almost inky red with a hint of purple on the rim. Earthy nose with obvious nutty oak, sour cherry fruit and a hint of mint and raisin; ripe mid-weight palate of mint/blackcurrant and licorice with excellent length but also a touch of alcohol heat.

My ranking: 5th place
Panel ranking: =4th place

Votes: 1 most, 3 second & third, 0 least preferred



2002 Voyager Estate Margaret River Cabernet Merlot $32: Dark to almost inky red with a hint of purple. Classic Margaret River nose of dried herbs and butter, with some mint and chalk with breathing; textbook Cabernet palate with a donut structure – a herbal/smoky entry dipping away, leaving big chalky tannins on the finish.

My ranking: 4th place
Panel ranking: 2nd place

Votes: 3 most, 5 second & third, 0 least preferred



2003 Cape Mentelle Trinders Cabernet Merlot $29: Dark to almost inky red with a hint of purple on the rim. Very closed at first, gradually letting out a peek of sweet blackcurrant fruit and cedar; I got the feeling the palate was still meshing, the tannins slightly ahead of the fruit at this early stage but finishing very well. That said the 2004 vintage I tried a week later at the Norwood Hotel was a much better wine.

My ranking: 6th place
Panel ranking: =4th place

Votes: 1 most, 3 second & third, 0 least preferred



2004 Greenock Creek Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon $40: Dark to almost inky red. Weird nose at first of insecticide/acetone, a mixture of green, VA and a heavy dose of French oak/cloves gone feral; with breathing Band-Aids began to appear pointing to a brett fault. The palate was just as wild and ungainly, tart/over-ripe fruit with hints of orange/varnish and floor polish, finishing with a whack of alcohol heat – this is a Cabernet? Maybe the tasting conditions didn’t help, but that’s two probably faulty bottles of 2004 Greenock Creeks at two consecutive tastings.

My ranking: 10th place
Panel ranking: 10th place

Votes: 0 most, 0 second & third, 14 least preferred



2003 Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa Cabernet Sauvignon $26: Dark to almost inky red. Sweet perfumed fruit at first, but the nose started to show some nail polish remover (EA) which was a bit off-putting; very dry/chewy palate featuring blackcurrant fruit and vanilla oak that’s second fiddle to the structure. Like the Cape Mentelle I got the feeling this one’s still meshing.

My ranking: 7th place
Panel ranking: =6th place

Votes: 0 most, 3 second and third, 0 least preferred



2004 Majella Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon $28: Inky purple/red with a glowing rim, the best of the bunch by a long way which gave a strong hint of what was to come. Classic Coonawarra nose of coal, blackcurrant and mint with some cedar/pencil notes and a bare hint of coconut at the end of the tasting. Likewise the palate dwarfed everything else here, a massive concentration of ripe blackcurrant and supporting nutty oak, finishing extremely long with chalky tannins. I’ve tried this a few times and the huge aggregate score (the biggest I’ve ever seen) pretty much says it all.

My ranking: 1st place
Panel ranking: 1st place

Votes: 9 most, 6 second & third, 0 least preferred



2002 Brown Bros. Patricia Cabernet Sauvignon $38: Dark to inky red/purple. Another big trophy winner but this one looked like a cliché, dominated by coffee/vanilla oak with surprisingly slender minty fruit. This was way too oaky to be taken seriously, especially in the presence of the Majella.

My ranking: =8th place
Panel ranking: 8th place

Votes: 0 most, 1 second & third, 0 least preferred



2002 Orlando Jacob’s Creek St. Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon $29: Dark to inky red. Closed at first, then overly ripe/baked raspberry/plum fruit with a hint of raisin, finishing with vanilla oak; this was another pretty extreme style for Cabernet, and I would never have picked it as a Coonawarra wine.

My ranking: =8th place
Panel ranking: 9th place

Votes: 0 most, 0 second & third, 0 least preferred



Cheers,
Ian

For those in Adelaide that are interested in tasting/grabbing some of the 2004 Majella Cabernet that so many are raving about Majella are having a tasting at East End Cellars this Friday afternoon/evening.

See you there.

J

I believe that Gavin sells this (fantastic) wine online here at a very reasonable price.

Opened the 04 Greenock Cab Sauv last night, and stood it for 6 hours. What's going on with this vintage? What I got was just 'raw green stemmy'. I hope the other 2 bottles aren't going to turnout as foul as this one..

Opened a dodgy 2005 Greenock Creek Grenache today!!!

Don't know whether some of you might agree with my rethink of the Greenock Cab Sauv, but I've had a bottle of that, and a bottle of Creek Block side by side on the table over the past 4 days, and I must say that they were very well made wines in the sense that they have maintained their structure perfectly well. The Creek Block is a wonderful drink, with perfumed floral and fruity notes. Now, the cab sauv has started to grow on me somewhat. The harsh raw greenish slaps do mellow out by the 4th day, and it's definately like young raw green tea freshly plucked and brewed straightup from the tea bushes. I can see why it's a major putoff, but I can see some positives if youare able to appreciate this style.

All that said, the creek block was very enjoyable!

Hello tpang,

I had the 2004 Greenock Creek Cabernet Sauvignon at the cellar door and opened a bottle at home recently. I absolutely loved it. However, I must report that it drank pretty well from opening although was better after 24 hours. Here was my tasting note from the bottle I opened at home:

It looks like motor oil in the glass and the nose is intense and intoxicating, let alone the palate, it is very sweetly packed, full bodied wine with dark earth, dark and milk chocolate, raspberry liquorice, blackberry jam, sweet peppermint and Tokay-like tea leaves. The sweet peppermint with a hint of tomato leaf gives some varietal definition but in a very Barossa context. Despite its massive sweetness, huge depth and sumptuousness, it amazingly maintains balance and indeed class with awesome integrated acid and fine, lingering tannins, which must have significant power to stand up to the fruit. All this seems impossible at 14%! Believe it or not, I find this to be a great example of terroir with the dark earth a feature of all the 2004 Greenock Creek wines I have tasted, as well as great weight. This wine's massive depth and smooth mouthfeel continues on the palate and the mind for ages. Wonderful wine that gets better and better after being open for 24 hours. 95/100 (18.7/20).

Adair

Back to the Greenock Creek wines, the 2005 Cornerstone Grenache that I mentioned above has not budged from its simple, sweet, McGuigan-like characters with no depth over the past 48 hours. It was a truly great wine at the cellar door, with depth, richness and fine-grained feel to its structure despite its 16%! My greatest concern is that, as it is not TCA affected or oxidised, some winemaking flaw is being uncovered.

I opened a 2004 Creek Block Shiraz last week at home. Big, powerful wine with great liquorice and tar characters amongst the big fruit. Pretty well as expected with very good structure but still not enough control of the sweetness for my palate to really enjoy it. I am certain others will go gaga! I am keeping a bottle to see how it goes. Like all these wines, I suspect they will improve at least over the medium term (5-7years).

The 2004 Seven Acres and 2004 Apricot Block are lovely wines. I liked the Seven Acres more at the cellar door while I have preferred the Apricot Block more at home. Honestly though, having sworn myself off this style of wine for a number of years, these wines are really playing havoc with my perception of depth and control. Of the 2 bottles of Apricot Block I have opened, one was fantastic while the other, the second, seemed to lack the control of its sweetness, similar to the Seven Acres I opened at home. Maybe I am getting used to the style again and am becoming immune from them again. I will keep my last 2 Seven Acres in the cellar as they will improve, but I will open another Apricot Block soon as need to feel comfortable that I understand this wine, and I am not there yet.

I also bought one bottle of the 2004 Alices Block Shiraz and will open it soon.

Adair