The Auswine Forum

and your drinking reports are now due too. What have you been drinking whilst watching the cricket? And for those not at the cricket, all the social events at this time of the year.

2001 Wynns Black Label: Had a bottle of this 6 months ago and thought it was excellent. Seems to have developed very quickly though and lost a fair bit of its fruit. Could have been a bad bottle though.

2004 Howard Park Leston: Very tight and closed. Slowly opened up but after 4 hours was still a concentrated little bomb in the mouth. Heaps of potential though.

Only vague recollections as no notes taken.

Starting white - didn't even notice the grape, country or producer

Lustau Oloroso sherry - quite an old one and very impressive with nibbles and then warm tapas. Interesting returning to it between courses, how it very much worked with the food (and less so without it).

Jean Leon Cabernet 1979. A surprisingly large bottling run for a wine of that style (very much a tannic cellaring wine). IIRC something like 200,000 bottles, plus assorted magnums, double magnums etc. The wine was amazingly fresh, with very bright red fruits on nose and palate. Tannins were prominent and on it's own showed as an imbalance. However with food (pork & orange casserole - a bad description of a very good dish) the tannins were perfectly masked and the wine shone through. An able demonstration of the symbiosis between certain food & wine.

Torres Gran Reserva (BLack label) 1989 I think. Very impressive, perfectly balanced.

Interestingly neither of the above two were noticeably concentrated, but the quality of the fruit was very fine in both cases.

Fonseca Guimarens Port 1995 - Fine, no great analysis required, just very pleasing to drink

Sorry for the lack of detail - discussion focussed on other things than the wine which I guess us wine geeks should remember to do more often

regards

Ian

1998 Dom Perignon - much better than the last bottle. Bready / nutty aroma, nice ripe fruit with great length. Not quite as good as the 90 and 96, but up there with the 95 IMO.

1999 Moet et Chandon - initial nose of chlorine which stuck around for about 30 mins. I had low expectations by this time, but the palate was fine. Not a great wine but a decent quaffing bubbly.

1986 Chateau Montrose - I'm losing patience with this wine. The nose is awesome - forest, earth, caramel and cigarettes characteristics leap from the glass. But unfortunately, the palate is (still) overwhelmed by iron-like tannins. Will it ever come into balance ? Not so sure.

1996 Chateau d"Yquem - the first time I've tried this vintage, and much better than the charts would have me believe. The nose was a little more closed than I anticipated, but one sip and my taste buds were swamped with marmalaide, dried apricots and caramel. The finish went on and on. And its still just a pup....

Woodstock The Stocks 1996
Just as an aged shiraz should be, lovely balance and length showing excellent aged characters. Seemed like it was only 600ml bottle though

Seppelts Original Sparkling Shiraz 2004
My first try of the new vintage and I was mighty impressed. Still quite primary but a little more in the savoury spectrum than the 02. I think I like this one slightly more. Note to self stock up big time for the summer months

Glen

Just a couple of Burings Pinot Noirs 2004, and 2005!

Mike

We had a huge range of wines last Saturday, at the final informal Blacktongues meet of the year.

Highlights were a rare magnum of the 2002 Massena Howling Dog Durif (glass staining, huge plummy fruit, tannin and spicy oak, all impossibly young and impeccably balanced), a 1998 Cimicky Reserve Shiraz, and a 1996 The Wilson Vineyard Polish Hill Riesling to kick off the evening.

The low point was two bottles of 1994 Orlando Centenary Hill from yours truly, the first oxidized to hell, and the second past it. I've had both since release in perfect cellaring conditions, the levels well into the neck, the capsules spinning and the corks look perfect, yet both were completely buggered.

Maybe they Orlando should rename Centenary Hill, "Over the Hill" - in my current mood I've sworn never to buy it again.

Cheers,
Ian

Piper Heidsieck NV - wow for drinking pleasure for the money in bubbles hard to beat. Toasty richness - may have a touch of added sweetness but who cares. My inclination to heap surpurlatives on it is tempered by how little good bubbles I've been drinking.

1996 Penfolds St Henri - okay but a somewhat flat bottle - no obvious TCA but the cork smelt rather woody. Hope the next nes are better.

Just a few this week. All very nice apart from the Eiswein, which I was expecting more incisiveness from (but I suppose that's Scheurebe for you)

NV Venue Amiot Brut
NV Pol Roger
NV Egly-Ouriet VV

2004 Tarrington Chardonnay

1999 Dei Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
2004 Wynns Black Label
2004(?) Massena Howling Wolf Durif

2004 Weltachs Scheurebe Eiswein

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Nayan wrote:Just a few this week. All very nice apart from the Eiswein, which I was expecting more incisiveness from (but I suppose that's Scheurebe for you)

NV Venue Amiot Brut
NV Pol Roger
NV Egly-Ouriet VV

2004 Tarrington Chardonnay

1999 Dei Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
2004 Wynns Black Label
2004(?) Massena Howling Wolf Durif

2004 Weltachs Scheurebe Eiswein

Nayan
How did you find the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano? A very good vintage and a wine style right up my street, so would be something I'd expect to like.

regards
Ian

Ian S wrote:How did you find the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano? A very good vintage and a wine style right up my street, so would be something I'd expect to like.

regards
Ian

Ian,

I'll admit that I have only had a handful of Vini Nobile di Montepulciano, so don't have much experience to compare styles, but here goes:

The tannins while firm, were quite supple; the acidity was a touch lower than I would have liked; had good flavours of spice, plums and cherries, though maybe a touch too jammy for my taste. Much more integrated than the bottle I had about 18 months ago. Drinking well now and probably will continue to do so for another 5 years, but why wait.

I found this more forward than other Vini Nobile di Montepulciano I have tried; and I think I still have such an "old world" palate, that I prefer the more rustic styles.

Very well made wine though.

Picked up for AU$30 a bottle about 2 years ago. Definitely worth buying at that price.

Regards,

Nayan

DJ wrote:Piper Heidsieck NV - wow for drinking pleasure for the money in bubbles hard to beat. Toasty richness - may have a touch of added sweetness but who cares. My inclination to heap surpurlatives on it is tempered by how little good bubbles I've been drinking.

Agree, this is good juice for the money, the key being freshness otherwise pass on it.