The Auswine Forum

I've been drinking some Mamre Brook 05 shiraz as a mid-weeker lately, and I like to think I know what it should smell and taste like, having had maybe 10 bottles in total, and 3 or 4 in the last few weeks. So I was surprised when I took a sniff from a glass last night and all of a sudden, it seemed quite distinct to previous btls. This one had a nice smell of fruit-cake (or maybe Xmas pudding) not noticed before. Now what's that down to? I can only think of three possibilities: bottle variation (cork closure); batch variation (seems unlikely); taster variation (maybe its a wierd pyschological thing, though I find it hard to see how, and it wasn't tasted with food).

Bick wrote:I've been drinking some Mamre Brook 05 shiraz as a mid-weeker lately, and I like to think I know what it should smell and taste like, having had maybe 10 bottles in total, and 3 or 4 in the last few weeks. So I was surprised when I took a sniff from a glass last night and all of a sudden, it seemed quite distinct to previous btls. This one had a nice smell of fruit-cake (or maybe Xmas pudding) not noticed before. Now what's that down to? I can only think of three possibilities: bottle variation (cork closure); batch variation (seems unlikely); taster variation (maybe its a wierd pyschological thing, though I find it hard to see how, and it wasn't tasted with food).

I've had this experience. About every 6-12 months I get into something I drink about two cases of ... Seppelt Dorrien 99, Centenary Hill 02 etc. You palate gets into a groove it loves and remembers the wine almost exactly in every detail.
Very likely bottle variation. Or was it served slightly warmer?

Jay

It maybe was slightly warmer - I hadn't thought of that. Seemed too strikingly different to be just down to temp though.

Were all the bottles from the same case?

I don't know, but quite possibly not: I bought half a dozen as part of an online order and they came as a mixed case of wines in a non-Saltram box. I got them from First Glass in Auckland, so Sue might know the answer I suppose.

Bick,

I sometimes associate that difference in smell (or what I think you are referring to ) with a touch of oxidation. See what the next one is like and that might provide an answer.

Cheers

Bick wrote:I don't know, but quite possibly not: I bought half a dozen as part of an online order and they came as a mixed case of wines in a non-Saltram box. I got them from First Glass in Auckland, so Sue might know the answer I suppose.

Hi Bick, No idea. Sorry.
From memory this has a natural cork, so could be slight oxidation, though unlike Grant, I've never associated fruit cake with oxidation before. The 'warmer' theory sounds like a good one, as its seems you didn't dislike it.
Cheers,
Sue