The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

Time for your weekly reports on what you have been drinking this week. If you are going to post complete TN's it may be best if they go into the <b>TN's Forum.</b> However if they are just a list with impressions this is the place.

My best of the week was a 1991 Orlando Lawson Shiraz which was Excellent. Tannins fully resolved, seamless and great flavour. Yummo!

Now what have you been drinking?

Cheers
Ric

I'm first, I'm first! Gday Torb, hope Sunday drinking as much a success on the new forum as the old.

98 Henschke Keyneton Estate-Riper nose than the usual,liquered cherry,blackberry,Henschke spice and vanillan oak. Deep and dark fruited palate finishing very firm with grippy tannin and acid. Charry backpalate which was a new experience for the style.

97 Turkey Flat Shiraz- Badly abused as it spent last summer in Narrogin,WA but a good friend kindly opened in Hong Kong a few days ago.

Showing a hint of development in colour. Nice coffee with subdued shiraz fruit and oak on the nose. The wine had been cooked but showed a soft and harmonious complexity with length and persistance. Reinforced the Turkey Flat style.

99 Nepenthe The Fugue-Good wine and ready to drink. Cool climate evident and I remember cassis and some green complexity-not unpleasant. There is length and tannin structure but I think the wine drinking well enough now.

Georges Dubeoeuf 2001 Beojalais-Corked and grateful of the statistical improbability that one of the better wines above not affected instead.

Balgownie 99 Cabernet Sauvignon-Big bruiser from Bendigo. Cassis, plum and chocolate dominate the nose and the palate is overcome with the astringency of the wine. Some unusual pate in the aftertaste. Needs a few years or some food to tame in youth.

Jamie,

I'm not sure your 97 TF was too cooked, I've had a TF Shiraz weekend, trying 96, 97 and 98 on successive nights, all wines from my cellar. The 96 was pure shiraz essence, the 98 young and chunky initially, then opened up, not quite the concentrated sweet fruit of the 96, but more backbone, but the 97 was paler, hints of brown already, showing development on the nose and palate, a mere shadow of the excellent 96 and 98 wines. 97 was a fairly tough year in the Barossa, they got the ripeness (14.5% a/v) but the fruit and tannins just didn't seem to be there. I think the remainder of my 97 may go to auction before they fade further.

2000 Hamilton Gumpers Block Shiraz..a nice dark beauty which has been my favourite sub $20 shiraz for some time.

Waipara Springs Reserve Pinot Noir 2000..a medium bodied pinot....nice length and silky tannins.. this wine is a regular at our table..as is the duck that seems to be made for this wine...mmmmmmmmmm

93 Cullens reserve good and won't get any better
95 Tatachilla Foundation shiraz - good
97 Tatachilla Partners best value for money red I've had in a long while and drinking well
97 Pewsey vale riesling good and very approachable now
97 Tim Adams Riesling good and is a keeper

Mum's Birthday . . . a lunchtime affair

Drappier Champagne 1995 Millennium Edition

Greenhough Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2002 - one of my favourites from the 2002 vintage and perfect with the baked ham. Everyone just loved the silken-textured wine.

Cloudy Bay late Harvest Riesling 2000

Cheers,
Sue

Hi all

It was a big end to the week,starting thursday lunch with Alister Purbrick,97 Marsanne showing better than the current release (marsanne)
Current release Cab/Sauv. 97 Reserve Cab. All drinking a treat.
a 2 hour break and dinner with a Craiglee 2000 shiraz,the usual spice and pepper. A 98 Zema family reserve,too young but plenty of flavour after a big 9 hours.

Friday.
Dinner for six. A six pack of Henschke 97 M.E decanted for 2 hrs and drinking well.
Yarra yearing Portsorts,dont know about this one memories of intense anniseed,thick rich flavours.
97 Nobel one.same old A hit with the women folk

Sat.
97 Lakes folly,2000 Te Mata Coleraine. Both drinking well with the Lakes Folly the table fav.
Barros 40 year old tawny,clean elegant flavours a nice tawney.
Seppelt gr113 rare muscat nice muscat
1980 para tawny nice port but shaded by the portuguese.

Sunday

A Bollinger good bubbles and a fine gift (for the table) a cup of was used for the sauce for the scallops.
92 Tahbilk 1860s
finish the seppelts muscat

no grog for a few days me thinks.

Regards peter

Tyrrell's 1996 Futures shiraz was disappointing- flat subdued nose - where's the earth or funk? Palate lightweight and bland - hard to believe off old vines in a good year.

A surprise - 1999 Huntington Estate Merlot - didn't even know they had one - good fresh red berry fruit nose - no stalky greeness that is the scourge of merlot and excellent midweight soft and fruity palate. A good honest red.

Paul V

Another 2001 Tatachilla Partners for me on Friday night! What great stuff @ less than $10pb.
Saturday arvo managed to have a couple of very nice wines, firstly I managed to get through a bottle of the 2001 Mt Billy Antiquity followed by the 2001 Howard Park Scotsdale. The HP was a very nice wine but the Mt Billy just exuded class - wish I had of got some of this! (the wine that is!!!)
Cheers
Popov

Ski time for 1 week with various suspects which was to have included one other forum member but she (and her partner) wimped:-

High and low lights included:-

Rain on wednesday (lowlight) - oh but for wine...

1990 kalimna (Penfolds bin 28): a truly savoury wine where the wood has now been absorbed but sufficient primary fruit is showing and evident that it has not yet headed for the tertiary leathery tanins stage. Arguably in the drinking window now but will at least hold for 5+ years and "improve" depending on whether you like some primary fruit or not. Would that more recent releases had followed this path with similar quality fruit (4 tried - one slightly less good but early in week - travel shock?)

1994 kalimna: drinking beautifully at peak for me though will hold for another 5 but I do not vouch thereafter. Lush shiraz without quite the class of the 1990 or

1996 kalimna: good but still somewhat closed and blackberry - could rival 1990 and much better than any intervening vintage (including 1991) (?)

1991: Wynns BL: peak drinking and a delight - previously raved (2?)

1994 Wynns BL: probably the easisest wine to drink conssitently without thought which is not to degrade the wine but for all those who suggest that large wineries are quality deficient just try these at something like their optimum drinking age and try to find better vfm at their pricepoint ANYWHERE in the world for CS at least! (6)

1996 Wynns BL: too young but will be better than 1994, and I wouldn't reject it now! (3?)

1994 Orlando Lawson shiraz: I am not a fan of Padthaway shiraz but short of the delightful 1991 this is excellent and shows a seamless finished product - and if you had paid the $19 claimed (!!!!) you would have been even happier (quite a few)

1998 Wynns white shiraz: now entering lovely drinking and will never match the 1991 or 1993 but by far the best of recent vintages (about 20)

2001 Wynns white shiraz: best since 1998 but will never equal that wine although a trifle young now. Quality of fruit seems lesser (??)

1998 Tollana TR222 CS: drinking very well over next few years - but you can't help but wonder what happened to Eden valley fruit as this is Adelaide Hills & Coonawarra ....not a bad wine but not thedistinctive TR222 of yore. (many)

2001 Mt majura Pinot Noir: interesting from Canberra with some future and better than

2000 & 2001 Mt majura Cabernet franc-merlot

1996 Orlando St hugo CS: very different from Wynns and style rendition of CS from Coonawarra as sweeter fruit and less up front which suggests an earlier drinking than its big brother (Jacaranda Ridge) or the Wynns but some subtlety and confirmation that 1996 was an exceelent vintage - and that Orlando's St Hugo has made great strides sincethe early 90's (6+?)

1997 petaluma riesling: perhaps a little abused but drinking very well - albeit never likely to be a great riesling - yes A white intruded

2000 Galah Hills CS: drank lightly in this company but was a good end of evening quaffer

1996 Pirramimma shiraz: brute still if slightly lesser than the Centenary shiraz of 1990 was at same stage of development

1996 Pirramimma CS- shiraz: why?

Since most wines were by at least the half dozen these were remembered and in the haze of the evenings/nights as the troubles of the world were solved but not resolved (till the next) much was forgotten.

Some wines were favoured by individuals and some were not - my preferences are apparent but no headaches or pain were felt (or at least admitted).

fred

Couple of cheapies.

2001 Hardys Oomoo Shiraz - cuddly plum and liquorice McLaren Vale shiraz, good drinking on a winter night and good value at the $10 per bottle paid.


2001 Lindemans Padthaway reserve chardonnay - pineapple juice and butterscotch oak - simple and not particularly impressive (even at $10 per bottle price point).

Matthew

1994 Wynns BL: probably the easisest wine to drink conssitently without thought which is not to degrade the wine but for all those who suggest that large wineries are quality deficient just try these at something like their optimum drinking age and try to find better vfm at their pricepoint ANYWHERE in the world for CS at least! (6)

Fred, you PANNED this wine last time and I considered sending mine off to auction !! Lucky I didn't listen to you....

Glad to hear that you think the 96 will be better - I still have a couple of cases of it under the house.

Cheers, Celia