The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

You know the dill. let us know what you ahve been drinking please.

TORB wrote:Hi Good Peoples,

You know the dill. let us know what you ahve been drinking please.

Craiglee Shiraz 1998
Least impressive of the case. A fair degree of variation in either the wine or my palate as the following day the decanted half was better and up to the standard of the others.

Cantina del Pino Barbaresco Ovello 1998
Acquired at auction (on the basis we loved the 1999 and the auction price was fair to say the least). Somewhat high-toned, but within accepted bounds for Nebbiolo. Should last well into the next decade. Not quite as good as the 1999, but happy nonetheless.

What about yourself TORB, drying out or being shy?

regards

Ian

TORB wrote:Hi Good Peoples,

You know the dill. let us know what you ahve been drinking please.

I know a few dills. and I'm wondering what ahve you been drinking?


05 Clonakilla Hilltops: took two days to openup to my liking, lovely berry driven wine when it did. Didnt take notes.
05 Johanneshof Gewurtraminer: has some colour about it. Lychee white flowers turkish delight and fresh passionfruit nose with a hint of vanilla bean. The palate is more in the full slightly oily viscous mode than the Stonecroft,and yet the flavours are light and lovely: pear, slightly green pineapple, passionfruit, turkish delight with a dusting of icing sugar. A touch of heat across the middle fo the tongue on the finish showing the 14.5%, and the plump texture is held on a knifedge by acid, taking this thorugh to a long, intense tingly finish. In the alsatian VT mould, and not a style I generally like, but this is a beauty.
02 DeBortoli Noble One: Light yellow gold. Cumuqat, lime, ripe pineapple, hint of vanilla, honey, syrupy. This is a lighter year in terms of density and flavours and all the better for it but still a bigtime wine that needs more years to settle. Heavily acidic too. The sweet wine version of 16% Barossa shiraz - some will love it.

Two wines from icon wineries:

1996 Henschke Keyneton Estate. The usual up front relaxed style of henschke. Black fruits, boysenberry icecream, raspberry liquorice. trucking along nicely, still a good few years in it yet. My last so I wont see. Displays the estate style extremely well. One of the better Keynetons

2006 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. To me this wine seemed better on release which is the opposite to the usual cbsb deal. Still very good but not a top of the class candidate as it seemed a month ago. goosberry, hints of passionfruit, red currant, green capsicum and chillie Again shows the estate style extremely well, restrained, sophisticated and suave.

It's been a while but we have finally got ourselves settled in London. As you can guess cold and grey here currently but in an odd kind of way ... nice . Been trying to understand French wine, so here are some impressions on a few we have had the last week or so.

2003 Baron de Brane (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux)
Originally had a bottle of this in a small French restaurant in Paris ... and it showed quiet well ... so was looking forward to tasting it without the ambience, etc. Cork was hardly stained and the from the colour in the glass this was definitely a lighter to medium boded wine. By itself not much to write home about (although you could say this about most French wine!) but with some food this wine comes to life. Probably not enough in it for me but some will like it. Pleasant.

1999 Château Pibran (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac)
Drunk over three nights and it still had life in it on the last night so this wine still has a way to go in my opinion. Medium bodied wine. Good balance and mouth feel with a nice fine grained tannic backbone which will see this wine last for a few more years yet. Enjoyable.

1998 Château Olivier (France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan)
Nicely stained cork and the wine followed suit, deep, dark crimson. Nice nose of earth intermingled with black currant fruit. Medium to full bodied, this bottle went down very well and is definitely at peak drinking. Great structure with a medium to long finish of silky tannins. Very Nice.

1998 Château Lafon-Rochet (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe)
Deep stained cork. Great nose of black fruit with some background earthy undertones. Full bodied and very balanced. This is drinking quiet well currently but has the structure, fruit and tannin backbone to last the distance. It will be hard to leave my other bottles untouched after this one, but I think they will be better off for it. A winner!

It seems that to get a decent French wine here in London you have to pay between 20-30 pounds. So although it is nice to try some different stuff, the Aussie wines still deliver more bang for your buck/pound even here in France's backyard . If anybody out there has some advice on what Frenchies I should be looking out for in this price range, please let me know.

Andrew
At £10-20 it's tough to find value in Bordeaux (unless that's one of your favourite regions). Going for a 2nd wine in a hot year (as you did) can be a good tactic. At £20-30 it should start to get better and careful shopping might find you something with a little age (I don't particularly enjoy young Bordeaux - I like the older stuff though). 88's 89's and 90's might offer something more interesting and even 94-97's might be worth looking at (in fact the underappreciated, early drinking 97's might be an ideal choice with some fair prices).

Not sure where the better places for older stuff in London are, but I do like Jeroboams shops (air-con in summer is reassuring). Keep an eye out for various January Sales.

regards

Ian

AJ - call me, you're in urgent need of decent advice ! And make sure you let the moths out of your wallet before I come to visit !

Knowing your palate, I'd suggest Pauillac's & St Julien's from 2003 and right bankers from 1998. But they wont have the lashings of American oak you so love.....


Mike

As for wines I've had..

1999 Moet et Chandon - decent quaffer. Same as the last 10 bottles. Just needs a bit more finesse and length.

1996 Lanson Gold Label - not as acidic as previous bottles. Seemed a little more "open for business".

2004 Godolphin Cab Shiraz - very primary and seemed to have more tannin and acid than the other bottle I've had. Initially I thought this was a drink now proposition, but I'm leaning towards medium term cellaring now. IMO, not as good as the 2005.

Didnt drink much. Too busy hosting a mob - remind me never to do it again. Mel seems a catering cripple - im already bailing out of putting on a new years party!! A few though -

2004 Dry River Lovat Gewurztraminer. This has stepped up a notch in the last year. Serious Gewurtz. Hugely concentrated tight on the palate, filled with crystalised ginger and ginger loaf. Extrememly long, tight yet massively rich. The last few Dry Rivers ive had have beene xcellent without being stellar. This bottle reminded me that although there are serious challenges from the likes of Johaneshof, nothing beats a top Dry River. Stunning. 2 glasses savoured over 2 hours, a dinner wine not a lunch quaff.

2004 Craggy Range Te Muna (Prestige Martinborough Sauvignon Blanc). This is a rare and relatively unknown label - part of the prestige collection sitting alongside Le Sol, The Quarry, Sophia and the like. When I first tried this wine it was brilliant. Today it was very good but not amazing. Still holding the homemade apple pie, cloves and cream flavour that attracted me to buy, but just didnt seem quite as focussed as 6 months ago. Intense, well textured and classy but missing the something to put it in the top rung of Sauvignon Blancs this year - and its way too expensive

2003 Main Divide Riesling. More like a Pegasus Bay, this was still pretty tight and healthy - this label hasnt aged well in my experience in the past. Full of you orange and honey type fruit, good wine

2005 Pegasus Bay Riesling. Trade mark spritz, tight, limes, mandarins, beeswax. Very lively. I still pick it as NZs best/ most interesting znay riesling. A must buy every year. Crowd pleaser and good qpr

Andrew Jordan, between Decanter magazine and Jancis Robinson (among other columnists) you should be able to find plenty of good Bordeaux in your price range. In particular, Haut Medoc, Cru Bourgeois, and the wines from the Bordeaux Satellites. Living in Edmonton, Canada, I don't get a good selection of these wines, and visiting Australia I find that there is neither a selection nor decent prices for Bordeaux wines. For a Bordeaux lover it is almost a wasteland.

Cheers..........Mahmoud.

McWilliams Show Reserve Liqueuer Muscat

Yum! Was an old bottle I has lying around. Knocked off half a bottle of this and staggered around the yard looking for a lost golf ball for about 2 hours.

Henschke Johann's Garden GSM 2004

One of the better Aussie GSM's around IMO. Lip smacker, red fruits, tiny bit of funk, lovely.