Appellation Australia

Once again a merry band of men and women from the Winestar Forum met up in order to enjoy some food and wine.

The Restaurant: I quite liked the restaurant; my entree of Balmain Bug Raviolo was excellent and was perfect for the white wines. Wasn’t quite as impressed with the main of Char-grilled Sirloin on mushrooms, but it was still good. Service was fine and corkage very reasonable ($3pp). Came to about $70 per head including bread, a small starter, entree, main, dessert, gratuity and corkage.

The Wines: Only the Kalleske Cleanskin was served masked on this occasion.

Charles Heidsieck NV (Mis en Cave 2000) Brut Reserve - (Champagne, France): Hyper-active, fine bead. A little bit of toast initially, with a hit of unbalanced acid on the finish. Pleasant enough, but I don’t think it is going anywhere special. 86 Points

Mount Mary Triolet 2001 - (Yarra Valley, Victoria): Blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle. Something off-putting on the nose asides from some grassy notes, someone at the table mentioned oysters and I wouldn’t disagree. It didn’t have a great deal of complexity or interest on the palate - some tropical fruit but it was only barely there. Pulled up a bit short and watery on the finish. Didn’t live up to the reputation for me, perhaps just not my style. 84 Points

Plantagenet Riesling 1991 - (Mount Barker, Western Australia): Nose was not giving anything away. Much better on the palate, aged toasty characters with structure holding in-tact. Balanced across the palate with a good length finish. No kerosene characters. Was holding up very well for a 14 year old West Australian Riesling and I though was quite pleasant to drink but without having the intensity of a great aged Riesling. 89 Points

Savaterre Chardonnay 2001 - (Beechworth, Victoria): A wonderfully complex nose of peaches, cream and pears with well integrated oak supporting. Restrained elegant power on the palate, lovely mouth-feel, still showing some freshness. Great balance and structure. Clean, long finish. Best Australian Chardonnay I’ve had this year and I’m going to do my best to source some of this. My favourite wine this evening. 93 Points

Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 - (Beechworth, Victoria): Tobacco and smoked meat on the nose. I noted down that the tannins are still quite prominent. A modicum of class, perhaps a shadow of the past. A good enough wine and I certainly wouldn’t refuse a glass, but not mind-blowing, and certainly not living up to reputation or price. 88 Points

Seppelt Dorrien Cabernet Sauvignon 1991 - (Barossa Valley, South Australia): Nice enough savoury bouquet and palate, but the fruit was missing in action, presumed dead. Finish pulled up short. Mike, who brought this bottle, had tried a much better bottle earlier this year. Ah, the “joys” of bottle variation. 86 Points

Penley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 - (Coonawarra, South Australia): Notes are a bit scarce on this one sorry. Was a bit green (on the nose) and mean (unbalanced tannins). I thought that it was lacking in length and pulled up short on the finish. 86 Points

Clos L’Eglise Pomerol 1999 - (Pomerol, France): Thought this was looking a bit tired and weary for a ‘99. The shop is closed for business, nothing there to hold any interest. Might just be going through a phase which it will come out of. 85 Points

Kalleske Shiraz Cleanskin 2002 - (Barossa Valley, South Australia): A glass stainer. Massive nose - Somebody mentioned Chocolate Bullets which summed up perfectly the liquorice and chocolaty oak. Despite the full on body, there was still balance to be found. Perhaps a little bit short on the finish, but I don’t think you’ll find better value for $7.50 anywhere. 89 Points

Preveli Merlot 2002 - (Margaret River, Western Australia): Sadly, without any doubt corked. Not Rated

Clarendon Hills “Sandown” Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 - (Clarendon, South Australia): Nothing happening at first. Was given a couple of hours in the decanter to open up (and I believe a number of hours beforehand) - If anything it got worse as time went on and in my opinion was offensive in the end smelling a bit like rotting cabbage. Maybe TCA affected but definitely not a good bottle either way. Not Rated

Oliver’s Taranga Shiraz 1996 - (McLaren Vale, South Australia): Deep red in colour. Quite powerful but lacking balance and I found the alcohol overbearing, leading to a hot finish. 86 Points

Henschke Keyneton Estate 1996 - (Barossa and Eden Valleys, South Australia): Blend of 65% shiraz, 30% cabernet and 5% merlot. Yes it was a little bit gamey (read: bretty) but I thought it was all the more interesting for it. Lovely complex nose, great balance and a good length finish. Close to hitting its peak. My favourite red wine of the night. 91 Points

Seppelt Great Western Shiraz 1991 - (Grampians, Victoria): Was a bit clunky and all over the place to begin with, but after half an hour seemed to pull itself back together and was quite enjoyable, if lacking in anything to make it stand out from the crowd. Likely a couple of years past its best. 88 Points

Miranda Golden Botrytis 2002 - (Riverina, New South Wales): Didn’t pick up a whole lot of botrytis in this. Not a great deal of intensity. Some overt sweetness sticking out, but not enough to ruin my enjoyment. Medium length finish and a good accompaniment for dessert. 88 Points

Malivoire “Moira Vineyard” Chardonnay 2002 - (Ontario, Canada): Disappointing. Very developed in colour for a reasonably recently bottled Chardonnay. A very oniony, sulphury nose put down to mercaptans. “Do Not Put In Mouth” stuff. Took most of the bottle home to see if they blew off but was just as bad the next evening. Can only put this down to being a bad bottle, I will write to the maker and see if they care to respond. Not Rated

Perhaps this offline should be known as the “It has shown better in the past” night with so many bottles not showing as well as they had previously! I had a good time regardless and am looking forward to the next one.

A while back Andrew from Spittoon mentioned that the RSS Feeds for my site were not displayed. After some investigation I found that the feeds were not working at all.

I have finally managed to resolve the problem that was preventing these from working - so if you are using RSS or Atom compatible feed readers, please feel free to add my site.

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Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Shoalhaven Coast Winemaker: Tamburlaine Winery Variety: Chardonnay Closure: Cork RRP: $24 (375ml bottle)

Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini hosts Wine Blogging Wednesday #13 with a theme of “Like Wine for Chocolate”, the idea being to bake a chocolate cake and then choose a wine to match it. Clotilde even kindly provided a recipe for a chocolate cake.

Read on to find out how things turned out.

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I was pleased to share some excellent wine over a couple of nights recently with some friends who enjoy drinking it, but perhaps aren’t quite as obsessed with it as I am.

From left to right:

Bannockburn Shiraz 2002 - ($50 - Geelong, Victoria): Earthy and stalky with spice and pepper, well balanced oak lending structure. Super complexity on the palate to keep things interesting. There was a touch of unbalanced acid on the finish but a very good wine regardless. Needs food to really show its best. 92 Points

Star Lane Merlot 2002 - ($35 - Beechworth, Victoria): Contract made by Keppell Smith from the cult winery Savaterre. Medium weighted, great line and length, not lacking anything in the mid-palate. Showed some cool-climate spicy characteristics on the nose and palate. Well balanced with a smooth finish. Among the top Australian Merlot predominate wines that I have tasted this year. 93 Points

Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru N.V - Disgorged Sept 2004 - ($75 - Champagne, France): Lovely golden colour with a glimmer of pink, fine bead and mousse. Pinot dominated nose. Yeasty and apple characters on the nose, but neither were overpowering. Delicious and excellent value compared to the big Champagne houses. 89 Points

Henschke Abbotts Prayer Merlot 2001 - ($65 - Adelaide Hills, South Australia): I’ve talked about this wine a couple of times before (here and here) and each time it has been excellent, this time was no exception. Impeccable structure and length. Velvety all the way across the palate. The kind of wine that you look up to find that the bottle is empty in no time since it is so drinkable. One of the few producers doing something special with this variety in Australia. 93 Points

Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz Viognier 2004 - ($30 - Young, New South Wales): From the winery that made the Shiraz Viognier blend famous in Australia comes this version priced at about half the cost of the flagship wine. Previous vintages of this wine were without a Viognier influence but this vintage has been fermented on Viognier skins and looks all the better for it. Crimson tinged with a superb, enticing floral nose with hints of apricot. Excellent mouthfeel. Strongly fruit driven at this stage of its life, but has a backing of restrained oak and the tannin structure to develop for 4 to 5 years. Perhaps a little bit angular, which should resolve itself over time, but this is such delicious drinking now that I don’t know if many will be able to keep their hands off it for that long. 92 Points