The majority of wines were served uncovered. Here are my thoughts about the wines we opened, with current prices included for my amusement:
2000 Louis Roederer Rose – 12%: Strawberry, blossoms, sweet citrus fruit, biscuit, strong autolysis. Mouth-filling, but loose-knit palate of richness and depth. At peak now but will hold for a number of years. 92/100 (17.7/20) ($100)
1996 Salon Le Mesnil – Champagne (Grand Cru) - 12%: Dried flowers, fresh bread, lemon butter and cream. Complex yet backwards, it opened in the glass with air and heat. Generous, ripe middle palate with sensationally harmonious oak and long, smooth mineral acid provide superb balance, harmony, control and focus. Sheer pleasure now but needs years, decades, to truly reveal itself. 94/100 (18.5/20) ($450)
1999 Yarra Yering Dry White No 1 – Yarra Valley, Victoria - 11.7%: Honeysuckle, white flowers, butterscotch, beeswax, cream, some tropicals, pineapple and apricot. Very rich, smooth palate that is sweet without any cloying. This structure is wonderfully smooth and mouth-filling - it has softened remarkably since my last bottle a few years ago. This is now at its peak. 93/100 (18/20), I enjoyed this wine as much as the next. ($45)
2004 Domaine Christian Moreau Les Clos – Chablis (Grand Cru) – 13%: Rock melon, honeydew, paw paw and cream. Surprisingly ripe for this region and vintage but not unexpected for this vineyard, the wine’s “baby fat†is an enjoyable surprise, especially as we are drinking this so young. Great underlying mineral acidity that takes breathing to show itself. Sumptuousness yet controlled, it finishes with slate, rocky minerality. 93/100 (18/20) ($85)
2004 Dujac Bonnes Mares – Red Burgundy (Grand Cru) - 13.5%: Everyone was looking for green characters in this wine due to the rain experienced during this vintage and a few general comments about the 2004 Dujac wines… but all anyone found was the reason Burgundy is great: Power without heaviness wrapped in liquid sensuality!
Red and white rose petals, dark and red cherries and red berries with hints of autumn leaves, caramel, smoke and dark minerals. Intense, focused and powerful but the balance and poise of a ballet dancer. Every thought reveals another layer. Masses of fine, supple, sculptured tannins ensures great line and length, both in the mind and palate. 97/100 (19.2/20) ($300)
Steve mentioned that there was only one problem with the wine… he couldn’t afford to drink it every night. David suggested Curly Flat might solve Steve’s problem so it was only appropriate that I go down to the cellar to explore this solution.
Note for future reference: Next time I hold a wine evening - give the cellar key to my wife!
2002 Curly Flat Pinot Noir – Macedon, Victorian - 13.3%: Obviously this wine had a difficult task being served after a $300 Grand Cru, and it is not the best vintage for this wine, but there were similarities to its credit.
Red cherries, red berries and musk of good intensity, focus and depth with savoury and sweet complexities. Finely structured, it finished short next to the Dujac but it did open more impressively with time. Most importantly, Steve said he could happily drink this at home at $46 and had more chance of doing so that the Dujac! 90/100 (17/20)
2003 Chateau Lagrange – Saint-Julien, Bordeaux (Third Growth) - 13%: More Australian than Bordeaux, this was served blind. My initial guess was a tight, young, quality Victorian Shiraz. Once it was revealed as Bordeaux, I knew it had to be from the 2003 vintage.
Black fruits, black olive, sweet and savoury spices, restrained oak usage. Nearly Grenache-like on the first night, the front palate is ripe and powerful although the wine is quite backwards. Very controlled palate with high quality, integrated tannins and totally encapsulated acid, the wine is compact without much length. Not enjoyable now and needs at least 15 years of cellaring if it is ever to be an enjoyable. Verging on pointless to rate now, more experienced palates believe it has a good future. 88/100 (16.5/20) ($100)
1982 Chateau Leoville Las Cases - Saint-Julien, Bordeaux (Second Growth): Exemplary Left Bank! Leaf, cigar, blackcurrant, violets, earth, cedar, lead, slate, savoury spice, blackberry and (add whatever red Bordeaux descriptor you like). The most complex wine I have ever tasted, all in perfect harmony that explodes on the palate thanks to masses of fine, silky, powerful tannins that provide a supple, generous and silky yet defined and controlled mouth-feel of wonderful length. This wine possess depth and balance that will live a century. 97/100 (19.2/20) ($640)
1982 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion - Pessac-Léognan/Graves, Bordeaux (Classified Growth): Black olives, black fruits, cigar, tar and dried herbs. Ripe and intense, powerful, gravely tannins provide exceptional length but extend the wine to open a small mid-palate hole. It needs another 5-10 years to really show its potential. 95/100 (18.8/20) ($640)
For those that don’t have an opinion about American oak usage, here is mine: Don’t put wine in it, and if you do, use it very judiciously or use at least second-use American oak. The next two wines saw some serious American oak and unfortunately I did not enjoy either wine on the night. The shaving cream characteristics of new American oak were too dominant. Fortunately there were considerable amounts of each wine left for my enjoyment over the following two nights as the fruit rose from the oak. In fact, while others were enjoying these two wines, I went to my cellar and picked out a couple of wines I knew I would enjoy!
1986 Penfolds Grange – Barossa/Clare/McLaren/Adelaide Plains, South Australia - Shiraz (87%)/ Cabernet Sauvignon (13%)- 13.7%: Big but very tight. Dark berries, fruitcake complexities and shaving cream. Classic Barossa! Perfect balance with smooth richness and mouth-filling chewy, fruit tannins, and great length. This wine needs at least another decade for the fruit to mature and consume the oak, which it will. 95/100 (18.6/20), but I can imagine a higher rating in 10-30 years. ($600)
1990 Penfolds Grange – Barossa/Clare/Coonawarra, South Australia - 13.5%: Big but tight with elegance on the back palate. Shaving cream, dark berries and fruitcake. Classic Barossa with too much oak. Lacks a hint of intensity on the back palate but this is most likely due to it being in an awkward stage of its life. Do not open for another decade. 90/100 (17/20), it will receive a higher rating in 10-20 years. ($630)
As mentioned above, I opened two wines while the others “enjoyed†the two Granges, both Wendouree wines:
2004 Wendouree Shiraz – Clare, South Australia - 13.3%: I chose this wine as it was the only 2004 Shiraz I had not opened. However, this wine was disappointing, especially considering Jeremy Oliver’s 97/100 (19.3/20) rating: Heady floral notes and suggestions of clove and cinnamon-like spices overlie a brooding bouquet whose aromas blackberries, blueberries, cassis and dark plums are tightly knit with fine-grained oak. Framed by firm, powdery tannin, it unfolds layers of searingly intense and slightly sour-edged, juicy plum and berry fruit backed by spicy, minty nuances and restrained oak. Very firm and astringent, but already very approachable, entirely natural and finely balanced.
After thinking about this for a while, particularly as I have enjoyed every other 2004 Wendouree Shiraz, I remembered that I dropped this bottle heavily on the dirt floor when I grabbed it from the cellar. So I put the poor showing of this wine down to bottle shock. As I write this I would like to open another, but I only have 5 more bottles and my first child was born in 2004.
Intense ascorbic acid-like blackcurrant, which settled down after time in the glass, with plum, cherry, musk, red earth and florals. Its elegant, supple, powerful, fine tannin structure simply did not provide much depth or length to the wine. Not rated ($180!!! - Side Comment: It is quite comical that the straight Shiraz is traded so heavily compared to the Shiraz blends.)
2004 Wendouree Shiraz Malbec – Clare, South Australia - 13%: I really need to keep my hands off both this and the Shiraz Mataro blend. They are both exceptionally enjoyable now, with the Mataro a slightly better wine, but both will be better in 15-20 years. For what it is worth, I consider the Cabernet Malbec to be the best of the 2004s.
Blackcurrant, violets, dark earth, minerals and red berries on a generous and controlled palate underpinned by an elegant, supple, powerful, fine tannin structure that expands the wine on the length of the palate. Power, depth, restraint and control, this wine displays all the reasons why Wendouree is the only winery I buy from every year. 93/100 (18/20) ($60)
1977 Taylor’s Vintage Port – Oporto, Portugal: Tokay-like characters of toffee, sultanas, tea and orange of good intensity and depth. Light/medium sweetness, the wine is very elegant, focussed, finely structured and long thanks to very clean spirit that is totally consumed by the body of the wine after 24 hours. A lovely end to the evening, particularly given that the 1977 Port vintage is the only excellent vintage from my birth year of all the great wine regions around the world. 92/100 (17.9/20) ($70 hb, $300 full)
Finally I must single out for thanks SteveT who cooked for the evening, PaulV for giving me a great birthday present of a 1986 Chateau Raymond-Lafon Sauterne, which I drank with my father-in-law on my actual birthday, and DannyY for leaving me yet another wine sock.
Kind regards,
Adair
Wow, some spectacular drinking there, Adair. Congrats on the 30th and thanks for a great write-up of notes.