The Auswine Forum

In the weekend AFR, Tim White at the end of a glowing review of the Vasse Felix MR Caberent 2005 (96pts) added this:
"Caveat: This wine is sealed with a natural cork so expect considerable variation from bottle to bottle."

Good man. Surprised me too as they must be one of the only MR producers still bottling cab under cork. Must remember to grab a couple of bottles mind you.
GW

This comment on cork reminds me that I was going to ask the question if anyone knows why Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2005 is under cork. At least the bottle I had on Wednesday night was.
Was so surprised to see an Australian Riesling without a screwcap, left the room muttering, "What the ......."
Loved the wine, but the cork closure didn't endear me to buy any.

Nothing like a professionally considered, accurate comment from an unbiased person in a position of influence.

Worse is people will read this comment and think it may be something they should believe. Shame.

David

David Bryant wrote:Nothing like a professionally considered, accurate comment from an unbiased person in a position of influence.

Worse is people will read this comment and think it may be something they should believe. Shame.

David

You deny that bottles aged under cork, with shared cellaring, develop differently?
Better go and ask Bruce Tyrrell why he switched to screwcaps...
cheers,
Graeme

David Bryant wrote:Nothing like a professionally considered, accurate comment from an unbiased person in a position of influence.

Worse is people will read this comment and think it may be something they should believe. Shame.

David

Gotcha! Took the bait nicely.

SueNZ wrote:This comment on cork reminds me that I was going to ask the question if anyone knows why Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2005 is under cork. At least the bottle I had on Wednesday night was.
Was so surprised to see an Australian Riesling without a screwcap, left the room muttering, "What the ......."
Loved the wine, but the cork closure didn't endear me to buy any.

The last vintage I took any particular notice of was the '02, which was available under both screw cap & cork. Perhaps they're still offering both closures?

David Bryant wrote:Nothing like a professionally considered, accurate comment from an unbiased person in a position of influence.

Worse is people will read this comment and think it may be something they should believe. Shame.

David

Peter NZ wrote:

SueNZ wrote:This comment on cork reminds me that I was going to ask the question if anyone knows why Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2005 is under cork. At least the bottle I had on Wednesday night was.

The last vintage I took any particular notice of was the '02, which was available under both screw cap & cork. Perhaps they're still offering both closures?

I had the 04 vintage of this wine a week or so ago - been racking my brain over what the seal was - pretty sure it was screwcap.

Brian - I;'m an easy catch!

Graeme - Every bottle is different to some degree, although quite often minutely so and beyond detection a lot of the time. I'm not sure how "... expect considerable variation from bottle to bottle" is anything otehr than a rubbish comment.

Cheers
David

David Bryant wrote:Brian - I;'m an easy catch!

Graeme - Every bottle is different to some degree, although quite often minutely so and beyond detection a lot of the time. I'm not sure how "... expect considerable variation from bottle to bottle" is anything otehr than a rubbish comment.

Cheers
David

Isn't language wonderful - with considerable somewhat unquantifiable. I see your point now (it may not have been just me that thought you were implying variation doesn't exist). I guess if we take out the ambiguous 'considerable' then we're not a million miles away.

As there have been published studies on variability of cork wrt oxygen ingress, it's reasonable for us to make a judgement on the level of variation - We could of course select the study that supports our viewpoint, but I'm hoping that's not the case. Anyone got their fingers on a number of these studies? Able to summarise?

regards

Ian

Quite a comment given that Tim has had quite a bee in his bonnet about reductiviosiation factors with other seal in years past.

Murray wrote:Quite a comment given that Tim has had quite a bee in his bonnet about reductiviosiation factors with other seal in years past.

You need to show David your Tahbilk Marsanne photo, Murray. That's "considerable"...
And David, you still need to talk to Bruce Tyrrell...
cheers,
Graeme

SueNZ wrote:This comment on cork reminds me that I was going to ask the question if anyone knows why Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2005 is under cork. At least the bottle I had on Wednesday night was.
Was so surprised to see an Australian Riesling without a screwcap, left the room muttering, "What the ......."
Loved the wine, but the cork closure didn't endear me to buy any.

Petaluma bottled their Riesling half screwcap and half cork for sometime - I don't know whether it has stopped yet. May be mainly for overseas markets now as the screwcap was selling faster in Australia than the cork

DJ wrote:

SueNZ wrote:This comment on cork reminds me that I was going to ask the question if anyone knows why Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2005 is under cork. At least the bottle I had on Wednesday night was.
Was so surprised to see an Australian Riesling without a screwcap, left the room muttering, "What the ......."
Loved the wine, but the cork closure didn't endear me to buy any.

Petaluma bottled their Riesling half screwcap and half cork for sometime - I don't know whether it has stopped yet. May be mainly for overseas markets now as the screwcap was selling faster in Australia than the cork

The 07 seems to be exclusively under screwcap here in England now.

DJ wrote:Petaluma bottled their Riesling half screwcap and half cork for sometime - I don't know whether it has stopped yet. May be mainly for overseas markets now as the screwcap was selling faster in Australia than the cork

Well of course the screwcapped bottles would sell faster than the cork. Seems like they are trying to hedge bets and please all comers. With Riesling, they should stick to screwcap IMO.

DJ wrote:

SueNZ wrote:This comment on cork reminds me that I was going to ask the question if anyone knows why Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2005 is under cork. At least the bottle I had on Wednesday night was.
Was so surprised to see an Australian Riesling without a screwcap, left the room muttering, "What the ......."
Loved the wine, but the cork closure didn't endear me to buy any.

Petaluma bottled their Riesling half screwcap and half cork for sometime - I don't know whether it has stopped yet. May be mainly for overseas markets now as the screwcap was selling faster in Australia than the cork

Croser was on the board of Amorim for some time. Petaluma wouldn't touch screwcap at all, initially, when he was still involved. Then they grudgingly moved to both closures for the riesling. At a tasting I did last year of their newly-released range, the rep said all the whites (Riesling, Viognier, Chardy, dunno about Tiers) would be under screwcap in the next vintages.
Graeme

As is often thecase, I agree with Ian's analytical approach. Drop the word considerable, and I probably agree with the statement, but I still don't think it should be part of the review without reference or qualification.

I would like to know if he contacted Vasse Felix to see if their was a specific reason why they chose to bottle under cork. Perhaps extensive in-house trials have revealed cork to be the better option...perhaps that's part of the reason for the high score.

In truth I'd prefer a screwcap everytime, but ambiguous comments like this only serve to further confuse the consumer.

Cheers,

LL

David Bryant wrote:Graeme - Every bottle is different to some degree, although quite often minutely so and beyond detection a lot of the time. I'm not sure how "... expect considerable variation from bottle to bottle" is anything otehr than a rubbish comment.

Agree.