Did Ben cull the wrong barrels?
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2003 8:33 pm
One of the brackets at last night's monthly tasting was a selection of 4 x 2002 Heathcote Shiraz from Nicks. Accompanied by almost interchangeable notes from Nick (pepper, licorice, blackberries, plums and spice, most of them had some of these, the differences were not evident from the notes, what does 'joosy' mean?), I and the group ranked them like this:
Tatiarra Culled Barrel $25 - clear group preference, a bit of a sleeper, initially a bit subdued, took a while to open up, but blossomed in the glass. 15.5%
Tatiarra Cambrian Shiraz $40 - easy to pick as the sibling of the other Tatiarra, very similar colour and flavour/structure profile, initially seemed to have more intensity than the CB, but it faded as the CB opened up. 15.5%
Sanguine Estate $35 - a few people liked this, it was dead last on my list, an estery, confected sort of nose and palate was not much different, a polarising type of wine, I hated it, bordering on faulty for my money. 14.5%
Mount Burrumboot Estate $30 - my second last and group last ranking, I thought it was reasonably similar to the Tatiarra's, but with less of everything. 14.0%
I won't be buying any of these, although the Culled Barrel is probably better than the Rufus Stone Heathcote and Mail Coach from recent vintages, I'd prefer to pay a bit extra for eg the Hanging Rock Heathcote shiraz or the delightful Dominique Portet Heathcote shiraz 01. The wines above didn't impress me as being great examples of the Heathcote shiraz style, I could have been told they were from Clare or even Langhorne Ck or Gt Western and believed it.
Tatiarra Culled Barrel $25 - clear group preference, a bit of a sleeper, initially a bit subdued, took a while to open up, but blossomed in the glass. 15.5%
Tatiarra Cambrian Shiraz $40 - easy to pick as the sibling of the other Tatiarra, very similar colour and flavour/structure profile, initially seemed to have more intensity than the CB, but it faded as the CB opened up. 15.5%
Sanguine Estate $35 - a few people liked this, it was dead last on my list, an estery, confected sort of nose and palate was not much different, a polarising type of wine, I hated it, bordering on faulty for my money. 14.5%
Mount Burrumboot Estate $30 - my second last and group last ranking, I thought it was reasonably similar to the Tatiarra's, but with less of everything. 14.0%
I won't be buying any of these, although the Culled Barrel is probably better than the Rufus Stone Heathcote and Mail Coach from recent vintages, I'd prefer to pay a bit extra for eg the Hanging Rock Heathcote shiraz or the delightful Dominique Portet Heathcote shiraz 01. The wines above didn't impress me as being great examples of the Heathcote shiraz style, I could have been told they were from Clare or even Langhorne Ck or Gt Western and believed it.
