The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

Its that time of the week again. Please let us know what you have been drinking. Tasting notes, lists or vibes welcome.

Tonight a 1998 Jean Leon Cabernet Sauvignon Riserva from Penedes in Spain.

Some dispute in the house, with me thinking it was still somewhat unready, showing tight tannins and up-front vanilla, whilst the brains of the operation said she thought it was fading: 'where's the fruit?!?'.

It will be interesting to see which of us ends up being right.

Other wines already mentioned in the March buying thread.

regards

Ian

Gibbston Valley Central Otago Pinot Noir 2003
Nice, earthy with good sweet fruits. In fine shape for a relatively oldish wine.

Turkey Flat Grenache 2005
Big on flavour but probably too sweet for me though.

Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir 2005
Not sure I share the enthusiasm of others for this wine but still I enjoyed it, as a lighter, cherryish style with good grippy tannins. I think I like the Chardonnay a bit more.

Coldstream Hills Chardonnay 2006
Nice wine, slightly funky, full flavour, good palate texture and length.

Easter celebrations started with a fairly rare Tasmanian.

2000 KREGLINGER Blanc De Blancs

Restrained, lemony nose. Focussed, clean but quite heavy palate for an all Chardonnay sparkling. Still very youthful with citrus and melon flavours. Very well made but lacking magic or individuality and zero Champagne character. It is in fact nothing more than a bottle of Chardonnay that happens to be sparkling for AUD $65. Anyway not a bad start to the long weekend.
Cheers,
Attila

My girlfriends bday so a few special ones:
98 Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque: Have had this a few times in the past and loved it, this just did not do it for me. Very fine bead, almost flat. Still nice acid components but definitely not worth the price tag.

2007 Kim Crawford Pinot Gris,NZ: Quite a nice heavy style. Slightly perfumed on the nose with a good fruit finish.

2006 Bay of Fires Chardonnay,TAS: My kind of Chard. Lovely rich oak followed by luscious cream. Can't wait for next months 07.

2005 Star Lane Shiraz,VIC: Had their merlot a while back and would rate as one of the best I have tried. This shiraz comes in one of those fancy heavy bottles. Was ott in sugar and fruit. Not a fan.

2000 Stonyridge Larose Cabernets: Incredibly interesting wine. Had it opened about 1hr prior to tastiing it and would have sworn I could smell and taste Barossa fruit. My incompetence quickly waned however, and the wine expressed itself beautifully. Lovely fruit, hint of spice and chocolatey/caramel notes came out.

Have not opened it yet but Tuesday we have a bottle of 83 Mt Mary Cabernets that I am looking forward to opening.

Attila: Try the Clover Hill Blancs de Blancs, I know Clover Hill is fairly commercial but it is pretty good.

After tearing a calf muscle at volleyball last week I've been on crutches and medication, and forbidden to drink any alcohol while on the drugs.

So no drinks last week, and so far no improvement - this is really starting to piss me off.

Cheers.
Ian

We spent an exhausting full day in the Barossa yesterday, it was wall-to-wall people at the most popular CDs. I really enjoyed Rockfords, fortunately the BP hadn't sold out yet, 3 bottles per person limit, I'm glad I took my wife and 2 kids.

We had a lovely BBQ tea, with a nice 2001 Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz that was just singing.

2000 Zema Estate Cab Sav
Shockingly overpowering jammy nose, almost what you get when boiling fruit. No varietal cab sav notes to be detected. One the palate the wine is much nicer. Medium bodied, good mouth feel, some cassis. Pleasing tannins. I'm not too sure about how a cooked wine smells and tastes, but based on what I've read this probably sorts in that category. The only thing I don't get is that the palate was fine while the nose was very unpleasant. When chilling it down to ~15dC it was drinkable. It was an auction buy and I have two bottles left. I'll certainly not bring them home to Norway.

2001 Majella Shiraz
I've had this not too long ago and it's still a very good wine, drinking excellently. Starting to show some characteristic aged shiraz aromas and flavours. A very good shiraz.

Gustav

n4sir wrote: medication, and forbidden to drink any alcohol while on the drugs.

Ian,

Change doctors to one who will prescribe medications that are enhanced by wine.

Blue Pyrenees Reserve Red 2000: What I regard as typical "lolly" Pyrenees nose, with an undercurrent (currant? ) of fruit, with leafy notes. Nice mid tannins and fruit on the palate, some leathery characteristics on the finish. Enjoyable.

Earlier today a Taltarni Brut Tache sparkling: corked ! & followed by a La Testa 2002 Merlot. Nice dark fruit and milk chocolate , balanced moderate tannins and a smooth, dry finish. Very easy to enjoy.

cheers,

Mark

Schweppes Lemonade NV Fizzy, Sweet, Refreshing...

Odds and sods:

2005 Christian Moreau AC Chablis: very ripe and even a touch of botrytis character. Popular with the punters but not down the line chablis.
2005 Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz: Disappointing. Red cherry fruit, a little lolly-sweet, lacks intensity.
1997 Seppelt GR123 Shiraz Tinta Molle VP: Sheesh! Way too young, Fishermans Friend and quite metallic. Leave 10 more years.
1998 Dalwhinnie Shiraz: Tomato leaf nose, with jubey, slightly mentholly fruit coming up a little with some airtime. Palate is very cedary, with some inky licorice like fruit under the veneer of bottle age - soy sauce and master stock. Mouthcoating and dense, quite complete on the palate. Well resolved and drinking now.
2006 Dönnhoff Schloßbockelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese: Floral, lime bath salts and cold tea nose. Palate is light, delicate, and lovely. Lemons, green apple, a touch of passionfruit, and more granny smith appleskin on the finish. Some spritz to keep this lively across the mid palate. On the whole though the acid seems just a little short for the texture, and this is a touch cloying. Very tasty and pure nonetheless, and lovely with soft cheese,

Cheers

Andrew

William Fevre Fourchoume Premier Cru Chablis 2004. Sheesh, made the riesling from last week look like the acid drops they were. Lovely tropical fruits and honey with a minerality on the finish and enough acid in the backbone to keep the palate clean without stripping the enamel off the teeth. Lovely wine that should improve for quite a few years yet.

Noon Eclipse 2006 The first glass was fanbloodytastic. Huge bright complex dark fruits with nothing jutting out. The second glass was 1 glass to many and had me thinking of chocolate fruitcake and a glass of vintage port. I may buy another bottle of this to try in a couple of years.

Kilikanoon Oracle 2004 Just goes to show that you can be big and still enjoyable to the last drop. Still showing tons of fresh black fruit but does not have the cloying nature of the Eclipse. Very bloody nice wine.

Rolf Binder Hanisch 2003 Wine of the night by far. Did not have the voluptious fruit of the first two. A bit leaner but layer upon layer of flavours, excellent structure and superb balance. Just got better and better over the course of 2 hours.

Galafrey Riesling 2005, pale yellow, apples and lemons on the nose. Soft rounded lemony fruit with moderate rounded acidity and good length. A peach with herb and lemon poussin.

Redman Cabernet Sauvignon, 2001, powerful minty nose exploding from the glass followed by a undertone of savoury blackcurrant that turns to Cassis with time. Gorgeous mouthfeel, slightly velvety and coating, with real depth of savoury blackcurrant fruit, a touch of pepper and a long milk chocolately finish, almost Dairy Milk like, if one can so advertise! (Not associated with Cadbury's at all ). Possibly a slight touch of acid that isn't quite in balance right now although that seems mid-palate rather than finish. Tannins and long, smooth and dusty plus minty hints to finish. I suspect this will develop still for a while yet but is lovely right now.

Cheers

Dave

A few wines amongst the beer.

Piper Heidseck Champagne NV
More developed than the last couple of bottles but still that fresh powerful primary fruit. Simple but very good.

1998 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling
Deep golden and past it. Grrr...

2006 McHenry Hohnen Calgardup Brook Chardonnay
Watermelon and fresh bread on the nose. Lean Honeydew melon but mostly citrus and quince finishing with a lick of classy oak. Still unevolved but still Excellent.

2002 Burge Family Renoux blend
Not quite my cup of tea but gets a big thumbs up from Rebecca. Just a simple middle-weight nice red with Barossa stamped on it and in its drinking window.

cheers

Carl

Chateau Reynella BP Shiraz 2005
Slightly boring but nice wine. Bought on the back of the 04 which I'd rate as a classy quaffer especially at about 25aud/10gbp on special.

btw it's snowing in London this morning .

Jay

HEARTLAND 2006 SHIRAZ. Great wine ,mind you very raw to be honest with you vBut give it 3 to 5 and it will be great!!!!!
After an hour or so a little oak flowed out and itwas amazingly drinkable which on one hand frightened me , this wine should not do this so early in its life !!!!

Also had a 2002 rockford vine vale riesling, still very crispy , great with scallops >

Alkoomi 2002 late pick, Bit sweet for me but still shows why ALKOOMI Is a great winery, Balance to die for.

Jay60A wrote:Chateau Reynella BP Shiraz 2005
Slightly boring but nice wine. Bought on the back of the 04 which I'd rate as a classy quaffer especially at about 25aud/10gbp on special.

btw it's snowing in London this morning .

Jay

A good layer of snow by us today - quite 'wet' but still settled in a relatively thick layer. Just about perfect snow for snowball fights, but the ammo would run out quickly!

The Reynella BP Shiraz has moved through the vintages pretty quickly - I recall getting some 02 from Waitrose last year (and 01 the year before). Always seems to get reduced to a tenner

regards

Ian

Louis Roederer Brut NV
One of my favourite NVs, great yeasty style, like the smells of the bakery and with lovely length and mousse.

Domaine Dujac Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes 2003
A heavy handed wine that improved with decanting. Lovely funky nose of sweet compost, earth and roasted cherries with a rather savoury, textural palate. Overall though, felt unbalanced and overly secondary.

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1994
Drinking very well, with sweet fruits and good tannin structure still in place. Lovely, full powered wine slowing down and opening up. Still could go another five to ten years in a good cellar.

Clayridge Excalibur Sauvignon 2005
Very sweet, pineapples predominant. Almost a dessert style sauvignon blanc but still with enough acid to back it up. Not my style however.

1996 Leasingham Classic Clare Sparkling Shiraz - best bottle to date. Drinking well with decent complexity and length.

2003 Lindemans Pyrus - simple but enjoyable enough

2001 Lindemans Limestone Ridge - a touch too austere for me

2001 Voyager Estate Cabernet - corked

2004 Voyager Estate Chardonnay - super wine. Will hit its peak in a few more years.

1998 Penfolds St Henri - pristine fruit, still on the young side.

1999 Moet et Chandon - bit boring. All lemons

Mike Hawkins wrote:
2004 Voyager Estate Chardonnay - super wine. Will hit its peak in a few more years.

Mike, agreed. All class.

Been drinking a lot of cheapies and cleanskins of late so not too much worth posting about but we took a bottle of 1998 Chateau Tahbilk Cabernet Savignon camping with us. Little bit worried about the jarring over a multitude of dirt roads but went very well with a couple of sirloin steaks cooked over an open campfire. A little bit of chocolate but no primary fruit to speak of. Just a very nice, perfectly aged drink. Finished it off last night and it was still very good, suggesting it will hold for a while yet. This was the first of a dozen so quite pleased to have plenty more.

1996 Wynns Michael Shiraz - drinking very well at the moment and would say it is on its peak now. very smooth(mellow) on the palate, good balance no harshness whatsoever. The only thing I would criticise is the length was bit short on back palate otherwise pleasant to drink.

2005 Valletta McLaren Vale Shiraz Grenache (Given to me by the winemaker, Paul, as a barrel sample) - wow...what a wine! it had everything I would ask for and showed up so well about an hour after opening it...I really couldn't fault this wine with silky smooth and so pure in the mouth with beautiful texture! Delicious. Looking forward to try last bottle in 6-12 months time.

Cheers,
David

I have really been enjoying the 07 Villa Maria Reserve Riesling this weekend. Knocked a couple of bottles off over the weekend. It is probably the best new release riesling ive tried this year. Love its balance, fine boned elegance and mouthwatering gentle acidity. This is the style of riesling I really enjoy. Close of 30grs, dainty, fresh and lively. Not as exhuberant as say pegasus bay, a little more classy and formal. It is a bit of a forgotten wine which sees low distribution and id imagine its not made in huge volumes anyway.

Enjoyed it a lot more than the 07 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling I had last week which was of course a completely different style.

At the idyllically situated Cottage Point Inn Restaurant yesterday, a half bottle (from the wine list) of
2006 Scotchman's Hill Pinot Noir (Geelong) {375ml, screwcap, $34}
A cheerful little offering, steady garnet in colour, light, slightly sappy cherry notes, right in the varietal mold. Largely front palate, with furry grape tannins and soft acid, this is a decent enough quaffing pinot with just enough length of finish to keep it interesting. Hasn't the affordable end of Australian pinot come a long way in five years?
cheers,
Graeme

Pretty quiet weekend for me...

Jean-Luc Mader Rosacker Riesling 2004 - a kickin Grand Cru vineyard in the Haut-Rhin(Trimbachs Clos-Ste-Hune is a lieux-dit within Rosacker)....what is it with Alsace???...wines from Rosacker never seem to be labelled Grand Cru on the bottle ....anyhoo it was very nice, quite forward ....stone fruit characters, some light blossom hints, stone...quite yummy indeed.

Trinity Hill Syrah Homage 2004 - excellent. Lovely wine.....Volumous aromatics....plummy fruit, violets, pepper....ticks all the boxes...balance, intensity, length, concentration. Not for the oak-shy though as there is a fair wack of toasty gear in the background but it is textured and a fine example of how NZ is kicking some major goals with the variety in the Nth Island.

Ohhh and a Moet NV.....pretty broad, boring Champagne really

Trinity Hill Syrah Homage 2004 - excellent. Lovely wine.....Volumous aromatics....plummy fruit, violets, pepper....ticks all the boxes...balance, intensity, length, concentration. Not for the oak-shy though as there is a fair wack of toasty gear in the background but it is textured and a fine example of how NZ is kicking some major goals with the variety in the Nth Island.

curious to try this or the 06 version, but wont part with the $100+ needed to satisfy the itch!! hopefully one day i can muscle in on a bottle share situation

Wizz wrote:Odds and sods:
2005 Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz: Disappointing. Red cherry fruit, a little lolly-sweet, lacks intensity.

I had one of these a few days back too. Agree with your assessment - perhaps adding level of Brett that I found distracting. I might go so far as to say that I found that particular bottle of the 2005 disagreeable. I think a first for any bottle of SSS.

Davo wrote:Kilikanoon Oracle 2004 Just goes to show that you can be big and still enjoyable to the last drop. Still showing tons of fresh black fruit but does not have the cloying nature of the Eclipse. Very bloody nice wine.

Bloody good wine indeed, just hangs around on the palate, seriously long finish. It's another example of just how powerful Clare shiraz can be, joins Jeanneret Denis 02 as one of my best shiraz of the year to date.

I really enjoy this style of shiraz, wish I had more than two of each left.

Cheers

daz

Daryl Douglas wrote:

Davo wrote:Kilikanoon Oracle 2004 Just goes to show that you can be big and still enjoyable to the last drop. Still showing tons of fresh black fruit but does not have the cloying nature of the Eclipse. Very bloody nice wine.

Bloody good wine indeed, just hangs around on the palate, seriously long finish. It's another example of just how powerful Clare shiraz can be, joins Jeanneret Denis 02 as one of my best shiraz of the year to date.

I really enjoy this style of shiraz, wish I had more than two of each left.

Cheers

daz

It maybe a good wine but not for the price what they are charging now in my opinion. Remember it used to sell $30 for '01 and '02 .

Cheers,

David