November 2005
Monthly Archive
I’m glad to see a couple of fellow Australian residents jumping into the wine blog scene.
First up is Dave Brooks at Vinosense who has some interesting articles up already. He has a great writing style and his tasting notes are sensational.
Secondly, we have Winetastic which is billed as “Aussie wine for the rest of us”. At the moment they have reports on some Mudgee based wineries that otherwise don’t get a lot of media exposure.
Last, but not least is the recent addition to the Podcasting scene The Oz Wine Show. If you aren’t familiar with Podcasting, it is basically a radio show that you download and either listen to on the computer, or put it on a mp3 player or CD to listen to away from the computer. Mick and Hugo have gotten off to a good start and are well worth listening to.
These new blogs are in addition to the existing Pinot Island which focuses on Tasmanian wine and its industry, Shiraz Shiraz which funnily enough has quite a bit of information on Australian Shiraz along with some insightful industry observations and Vinodiversity which focuses on some of the lesser known grape varieties that are used in Australian wine.
Are there other wine focused, Australian blogs out there? Please leave a comment if I’ve missed anyone out.
Last month Australia’s largest wine company Southcorp (now part of Fosters and even bigger) put on its annual road-show to showcase its wines across major capital cities.
In Sydney, this was held at the completely refurbished Hilton hotel that was reopened in July. As often happens at these public events it didn’t take long to descend into madness, with two full metre high spittoons being knocked over and spilt across the brand new carpet, but I managed to make a few brief notes before it became too difficult to move.
Next year hopefully Southcorp will either halve the number of tickets sold, double the size of the room hired or hold the event over two days.
Apart from these wines, I also attended a Seppelt Fortified Masterclass which I will write about in a separate post shortly.
Secret Stone Sauvignon Blanc 2005 - Grassy, herbaceous, very fresh, a pretty good attempt at a stereotypical Marlbourough Sauvignon Blanc. I’m sure it’ll sell well. 87/100
Leo Buring: Recently refocused as a Riesling only label after dabbling in a few other varieties over the years. At the base level are the Clare and Eden Valley Rieslings which retail for around $12AU, followed by the Leonay Riesling which is only made in great years and can either be from the Clare or Eden Valley depending on which produced better grapes and retails for around $28. Two new Rieslings were on show, a single vineyard Watervale Clare Valley Riesling and a Mount Barker Riesling from Western Australia which will be released at the same price point as the Leonay Riesling later this year.
Clare Valley Riesling 2005 - A touch yeasty? Needs time to settle down after bottling - nice aromatics of lemon/lime. 88/100
Eden Valley Riesling 2005 - More restrained than the Clare - showing excellent structure and should age very well. 89/100
Leonay Eden Valley Riesling 2005 - Great minerality, great acid structure. Approachable now but will blossom with time. 91/100
Single Vineyard Watervale Riesling 2005 - Planned as an aged release in 2010. Very, very good. Superb pure fruit. Looking forward to seeing it again on release. 92/100
Mount Barker Riesling 2005 - Over the top, bracing acidity that will settle down after time and should give it the structure to age. Worth putting away a couple of bottles to see what happens. 90/100
Leonay Riesling 1991 - Not showing well on this occasion. No fruit, a bit of honey and butterscotch, no kero. Short on the finish. 81/100
Leonay Riesling 1995 - A touch of coffee(?), kero and honey on the nose. Lovely mouth-feel. This bottle seemed ready to drink. 90/100
Leonay Riesling 1997 - Touch short on the finish but otherwise very nice. Still very youthful with no signs of the fruit fading, will go for quite some more time. Balanced flavour profile. 91/100
Devil’s Lair: A brand that has a good reputation from the Margaret River region in Western Australia. Aside from their flagship Chardonnay ($35) and Cabernet Blend ($45) reviewed here, they produce a second label called Fifth Leg which is aimed at a lower price point ($15) and is apparently selling very well.
Chardonnay 2001 - A Chardonnay with a bit of character and complexity but perhaps lacking balance side by side with the 2003. 89/100
Chardonnay 2003 - More power than the 2001 but the balance is held together by smart oak usage. Good structure, excellent length. 90/100
Cabernet Blend 1999 - Minty nose and a bit of sweetness on the palate. Not my thing. 87/100
Cabernet Blend 2002 - Too herbaceous and green. Disjointed palate. I’ll pass. 85/100
Cabernet Blend 2003 - To be released April ‘06. This is more like it. Rich nose of berries, cassis, tobacco. Perhaps a bit too much oak on the palate but that may sort itself out between now and release. 89/100
Seppelt: The shining example of a winery under the control of a huge corporation that is actually making very good wine across the board, from their under $10 Victorian range to their flagship St Peters Shiraz at $50. I’ve written about Seppelt and the not so complicated secret behind their success before here.
Salinger Rose NV - Strawberry nose. Quite light, worth a look at over summer. 86/100
Salinger Sparkling 2001 - Crisp, refreshing. Good value for money. 87/100
Drumborg Riesling 2005 - Lovely restrained floral nose. Great length and structure. Give it some time in the cellar and be rewarded. 92/100
Moyston Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 - Earthy, grippy tannins. Give it a few years to develop and will be good. 89/100
St Peters Shiraz 2003 - Very approachable. Great balance. Not quite as intense as the 2002 St Peters, but still excellent fruit, smart use of oak and the structure to age well. Highly recommended. 95/100
Benno Shiraz 2003 - I have seen some recent comments on a disturbing amount of oakiness on the palate and this tasting didn’t give me any reason to disagree. A bit disappointing as the fruit is clearly very good. Should probably come together, but the jury is out. 90/100
A number of people I know were interested in tasting the Chris Ringland Shiraz, formerly known as “Three Rivers” before he was forced to change the name. This wine is a super small production Shiraz from the Barossa Valley and made by Chris Ringland of Rockford fame. Ever since Mr Robert Parker took a liking to it, the prices have skyrocketed and so the only way we were going to get to taste this was if a number of people put some money in to get a glass of the wine in return.
There were only 1000 bottles made of this in 1999 (83 and a 1/3 cases) with maximum production reaching no more than 100 cases in any vintage and thus forms my entry to Wine Blogging Wednesday #15.
We also decided that this was a good opportunity to see how the 1999 Barossa vintage wines were progressing and give the Ringland some competition so we decided to do a 1999 Barossa Shiraz horizontal. As opposed to a vertical, where you taste different vintages of the same wine, a horizontal is where you taste several different wines but of the same vintage.
The Wines: All wines are 1999 vintage from the Barossa Valley and Shiraz based except for the opening Champagne and the Mount Edelstone which is from the Eden Valley in South Australia. The wines were tasted unmasked.
Flight One : A couple of sparklings to kick the night off …
Le Bernard Pitois Brut Reserve NV - A nice, fresh citrusy nose. Good length. Restrained toasty bread and yeasty characters. Nice, but not overly complex. 87/100
Rockford Black ‘99 Disgorgement - Cherries, plum and hints of tobacco on the nose. Quite balanced and shows some elegance on the palate. 88/100
Flight Two : The start of the main event …
Turkey Flat - Closed for business on the nose initially which did open up slightly after some time to show some peppery oak. A bit thin and weak on the palate with some acid protruding on the front. Not a whole lot of interest, and for me, the weakest of this flight. 83/100
Burge Family Draycott - A bit of charred oak on the nose. Smooth palate lacking in complexity. Pulls up a touch short on the finish. 85/100
Greenock Creek Seven Acre - The most full-bodied of this flight. Liquorice and berries on the nose. Grippy tannins on the palate. Lovely long finish. Powerful but still has poise and balance, not over the top. Wine of the flight. 89/100
Henschke Mt Edelstone - This did stand out as the odd one out in this flight on the nose. I got a whiff of spearmint and menthol and yes there were some earthy, horsy, savoury aromas and flavours, but in this case I though they added rather than detracted from the wine. 87/100
Flight Three : A step sideways …
Grant Burge Meschach - Concentrated blueberry jam on the nose. Good length and balance on the palate. 87/100
Viking Grand - Vegetable nose. Clunky, disjointed palate with some sharpness on the front palate and oak and over-ripe fruit sticking out. Thanks but no thanks. 82/100
Peter Lehmann Stonewell - Lots of chocolaty oak on the nose along with ripe fruit. The oak does recede a little on the palate though to show some better balance but still fails to impress. 85/100
Langmeil The Freedom - This may sound strange but I found vanilla soap the predominant character on the nose. Powerful fresh, ripe fruit. Good length. Nice but needs time to come together fully. 87/100
Flight Four : and now a step up …
Rockford Basket Press - A bit muted on the nose but much nicer on the palate of ripe berry fruit with good balanced oak providing structure. Smooth finish and good length. 89/100
Yalumba Octavius - I did not at all like the 1990 of this that I had recently due to the over the top oak. However I found the ‘99 to be more restrained. I did find it to be a bit too tannic for my liking at this stage. 87/100
Torbreck The Factor - Alright, now we are getting serious. The best nose on any wine this evening with a beautiful floral lift that made me mistake that this has the slightest dash of viognier in it (apparently not). Powerful but totally balanced palate. Wonderful length. Super stuff. 94/100
Flight Five : The big guns …
Veritas Hanisch - I decided to save this for the last flight due to its power but it ended up being out classed. Deepest colour wine that I noticed tonight. Powerful, concentrated, still youthful fruit … but too simple at this level. 88/100
Greenock Creek Roennfeldt Road - Supremely powerful nose and palate. A touch spirity and a touch oaky but otherwise I enjoyed drinking this, but didn’t feel challenged by it. 91/100
Penfolds Grange - Closed, closed, closed initially. Was allowed to sit in the glass for a few hours and started to open a little and show a bit more of that typical Grange nose. Elegant, smooth, balanced and structurally complete palate with lovely mouth-feel. Really shows that elusive spark of something special over the other wines so far. In my notes I underlined twice “Come back in 15 years” when I think it’ll be spectacular. 96/100
Chris Ringland - Went blow for blow with the Grange in the battle for wine of the night and came out with a respectable result against the champion. There was a candy like element to the nose and but I thought that it provided a very nice floral perfumed element rather than being confected. Savoury, spicy, earthy and slightly meaty palate along with some wonderful concentrated berries. Breathtakingly long finish. Based on this tasting I feel it deserves its place among the top Australian Shiraz. 96/100
The conclusion : My top three wines for the night were the Grange and the Ringland as equal best Wines of the Night, with the Torbreck Factor coming in third.
I think the slightly underrated 1999 vintage looks pretty good overall, there are some good candidates for aging and some that are drinking very nicely now.
It was a good experience to have tasted the Chris Ringland wine, I can actually see what all the fuss is about and it’s just a shame for us regular wine lovers that it has been made so expensive due to one mans review.
Some wines brought along and tasted blind at a dinner with some fellow wine aficionados ;
Leo Buring Leonay Watervale Riesling 1992 - (Clare Valley, South Australia): Yellow gold in colour. All honey and toast with a touch of lanolin. Good length and was holding together structurally. A couple of comments around the table were that this bottle was past its best, but I thought it was still good and holding up well. 88 Points
Yarra Yering Dry White Number 1 1998 - (Yarra Valley, Victoria) I couldn’t pick it at all blind apart from thinking that I hadn’t tried anything like it before. Very muted initially but may have been served too cold. As it warmed up it showed an interesting honey dominant nose with nutty, caramel oak behind. I thought the palate was lacking in balance and length. Regardless, I found in an interesting experience to drink and think about. 86 Points
Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir 1998 - (Martinborough, New Zealand): Pinot on the nose but not the palate. Undergrowth, earthy and leafy, spicy oak and a hint of sweetness on the nose. The palate was medium bodied with good length and savoury oak supporting structurally but a bit of acid poking out. 86 Points
Chateau Lagrange 1995 - (Bordeaux, France): Deep coloured, looks quite youthful. Layered nose of earth, coffee, green capsicum, pencil shavings and mixed herbs. Excellent mouth-feel with fine tannins and structure. 89 Points
Chateau l’Angelus 1988 - (Bordeaux, France): Chocolate oak and tobacco aromas are at the forefront of an intoxicating nose. Quite an intense, full bodied palate. Superbly balanced. Drinking very nicely now and I suggest will continue to do so for quite a few more years to come. Lovely, lovely wine. 92 Points
Winslow Cabernets 1998 - (Marlborough, New Zealand): Dense purple in colour. Youthful nose of berries and currants along with some spicy caramel oak. The palate felt somewhat disjointed with tannins, acid and alcohol all sticking out. May come together. 86 Points
Yalumba Octavius 1990 - (Barossa Valley, South Australia): My favourite quote of the night was about this wine by someone at the table after the vintage (but before the maker) was correctly guessed - “It was as if they said - this is a great vintage, let’s quadruple oak it”. Overbearing oak dominating what might otherwise be a very, very nice wine. It has the length and it has the intensity, but it just doesn’t have the balance. It isn’t a bad wine if you take into account that it seems to be a deliberate choice of style, but it’s certainly not what I’m looking for. 85 Points
Seppelt St Peters 2002 - (Grampians, Victoria): Beautiful complex nose of dense berries, spices, liquorice and savoury meats. Dense but at the same time showing elegance and wonderful structure. Awesome, persisting length. Brings together seamlessly the best of cool-climate and warm-climate Australian Shiraz. 94 Points and my favourite wine of the evening.
McWilliams Solera Aged Rare Liqueur Verdelho NV - (Griffith, New South Wales): I don’t have too much to say about this. Lots of caramel, lots of alcoholic heat, went well enough with the cheese platter but wouldn’t want to drink on its own. 87 Points
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