TN: Adelaide Offline at T-Chow with Nayan 28/2/09

n4sir · Post by **n4sir** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:35 pm

Ask any winemaker in South Australia and February was the month from hell, yet for the third year in a row we got very lucky with the weather and struck a mercifully cool evening for the first offline for the year. It was perfectly timed for the brief period when Nayan was in town; he's now working the vintage in the land of the long white sheep.

My thanks go to everyone there for kicking off the first offline of the year, to Nayan for taking care of ordering the food, and of course the staff at T Chow for putting up with us again until closing (plus I was lucky enough to be there for the staff's farewell of Chef So; hope I got those photos right!)

2004 Mitchell Riesling (screwcap): Bright yellow colour. Toasty/mineraly nose with bright lemon characters; tangy lemon palate with a toasty/pithy finish. A good opening to the evening.

1996 Tyrrells Vat 1 Semillon: Light gold. Tight and relatively closed nose, some mineral, toasty/nutty and petroleum characters, becoming cheesy; the palate's just as tight and undeveloped, some lemon and tuna/fishy characters, the finish very dry and short. I had the impression this may even have been slightly scalped, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt as some others who went back to it later on said it opened up remarkably well.

2007 Ashton Hills Riesling (screwcap): Bright yellow/green. Floral nose full of blossom and grass, and just a little fennel; the entry of the palate's just as juicy with lemons, followed by limes and grass, finishing very, very dry. Some impressive elements yet I don't think it all fits; to be honest I don't think I get Adelaide Hills Riesling.

2001 Liebich Potter's Merlot (magnum): Murky crimson colour. Dark, smoky and sweet nose of plums and leather, some pepper and mud chocolate; sweet, soft entry leads to a medium weight but very dry palate, finishing minty and then chocolaty. A solid, predictable Merlot drinking at its peak.

1999 Penfolds St. Henri: Medium to very dark blood red. Weird, varnishy nose with nail polish remover/glue characters, later closing down almost completely with just a dash of pepper appearing. The palate opens with raspberries/black jubes but never really gets going, the length and structure's there but the fruit's nowhere to be seen. Jason said this bottle wouldn't have passed a Penfolds Clinic and it was possibly cooked; the other bottle was oxidised.

1998 Penfolds Cellar Reserve Sangiovese: Light to medium red. Milk chocolate and cherries, mint and pepper, finishing very chocolaty and long. This was a very impressive showing for the first vintage of this wine, and there's still definitely more good days to come.

1989 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz (magnum): Light to medium blood red. Old school, ripe/chocolaty Barossa raspberries matched with lashings of sweet, American buttery/coconut oak, all in the nicest possible way. The palate's younger and more oaky than the magnum I had over two years ago, a little tomato skin's there in the background but it's still all sweet, slutty fruit and lavish oak in some kind of twisted balance; a Paris Hilton wine, a little trashy but still attractive and a popular choice for WOTN.

2005 Penfolds Cellar Reserve Gewurztraminer (screwcap): Pale straw. A little fresher than my last bottle, but the detergent suds, lychees and racy acid are still all there. It served as a decent palate refresher at this stage, but it's really unfair to say anything else about the wine when it's dropped in between these heavy-hitting reds.

2004 Carlei Green Vineyard Shiraz: Dark to inky blood red/purple. Back to the subject of slutty reds, this is flooded with sweet blackberry fruit matched with fiery/spicy oak, with earth/mushrooms and also raisins with breathing, the ripe fruit and alcohol screaming out on the finish. One for the fruit whores; this borders OTT.

1994 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (magnum): Dark to very inky blood red. Cool nose of ashtray and minty/menthol, capsicum and tomato; the palate opens with surprisingly obvious bubblegum/vanillin oak not there on the nose, medium weight fruit and a dry/chalky structure, finishing powdery and grippy. In contrast to the previous couple of reds this was the wallflower, but it does have some time on its side to blossom; that said, it's not in the league of the 1991 or 1996 vintages.

1998 Tahbilk 1860 Vines Shiraz: Light to medium red. And now for something completely different: Bilgy old oak matched by sweet/medicinal fruit and some metallic/bandaid characters, becoming rather vegetal with breathing; the palate's very dry with the same medicinal characters, some black jubes and mineral, looking rather sad and dirty in this group.

1994 Geoff Merill Reserve Shiraz (magnum): Light to medium red. Smoky/oily nose with sweet cherry stones; surprisingly light entry with bright cherries and earth, light to medium weight with a lean but decent length finish. I think it was generally agreed this was possibly not as good as it could have been.

1994 St. Hallett Old Block Shiraz (magnum): Light to medium raspberry red with a pink rim. Classic Barossa notes of dark chocolate/earth and petroleum, raspberries/blackberries, black pepper, a little vanilla and cedar, and then violets/leather, all with a surprising elegance and some restraint. In contrast the palate has an aggressive/bitey entry of vanilla and jammy raspberries, malt/milk chocolate, leading to a medium to full weight palate laced with pepper and creamy vanilla, finishing very long with very fine tannins. A classic '94 Barossa Shiraz at its peak, although it's not in the blockbuster category; as James Halliday would say, powerful but not fleshy. I was charmed by its elegance on the night, but the remnants the following day weren't great; drink up now.

2002 Rockford Home Block Cabernet Sauvignon (magnum): Very dark to inky red. Forget the restraint; this is full of blackberry/blueberry and black olives, cedar, butter and coconut, later on some liquorice and fish sauce, mint and black coal. Sweet entry of confectionery, the palate structure and length are excellent, although I wish it had a little more stuffing; a polarising wine, easily recognisable as a big, bold Barossa red but not so much as Cabernet.

1994 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Michael Shiraz (magnum): Medium to dark red. Stony/muted nose with some tomato/earth, but the dampness immediately signalled a cork taint problem; likewise the palate was just as handicapped, and while some bright fruit characters poked through the TCA killed this one for me. These are the moments I hate ****ing corks.

1975 Chateau Reynella Vintage Port: Just when as few of us were finding a tough time deciding our WOTN, this wonderful beauty popped up; ripe fruit and lovely spirit, complex mushroom characters and deep heat, the finish long, clean and perfect. Thanks Chris!

1944 Dalva Coheita (bottled 1975) : Bright tawny with a light olive rim. Intense, lifted aromas of wood varnish, caramel, and just a little apricot and fig; subtle entry followed by a slow but elegant build up of alcohol spirit and brandied characters, mineraly and just a touch peaty like a good single malt, but also with a touch of marmalade/glaceed fruit sweetness, long and lingering. Classy; I can only imagine what Nayan's better bottle was like a couple of years ago.

1954 Hardy's Show Port: By this stage I wasn't writing much but I thoroughly enjoyed this, a lovely clear amber colour and full of rich cappuccino scents and lovely rancio characters. My second favourite after that brilliant Reynella.

Bleasdale 16 year old blend Verdelho (375ml): Medium amber. Dark fig/marmalade on the nose; tangy fruity entry to the medium weight palate, the finish a tad short/shallow; maybe that's a little unfair to say that considering the fortifieds it followed.

Cheers
Ian

markg · Post by **markg** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:02 am

Nice notes Ian.

Probably a little too much wine for the night though, the hangover played hell with my hockey game next day.
Couldnt get off the bench for most of it :-(

bacchaebabe · Post by **bacchaebabe** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:00 pm

Wow, quite the tasting. How many of you were there for this?

Gustav · Post by **Gustav** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:26 pm

Aahhh...sounds like a classic offline in Adelaide. A lot of good wine and very nice people. I really miss it...sigh... Did you guys see the bottom of all those magnums? The fortifieds sounded fantastic. Nice notes as usual Ian!

cheers
Gustav

Not drinking to much Australian lately (although I had a great experience with a 2004 Winter Creek Shiraz the other day). Trying to get into German Riesling for the time being - fantastic stuff. And of course Nebbiolo based wines from Piedmont - great wines (if you can get hold of som Gattinaras, try it! - cheaper than Barolo, but often just as good in quality)

n4sir · Post by **n4sir** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:52 am

bacchaebabe wrote:Wow, quite the tasting. How many of you were there for this?

The final count was 17 - at the end of the night I still thought it was 19, but I counted Mark's extra 2 who dropped out at the last second, and it was kind of late and hazy... :oops:

Cheers,
Ian

markg · Post by **markg** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:35 am

Hey Gustav,

Hows the weather there ? Brrrrr.....

David · Post by **David** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:40 pm

Hi Gustav. Missing you and your family, when are you coming back?