Appellation Australia

Sydney experienced a 45° celsius (113° fahrenheit) New Years day this year, so we did what any sensible group of wine lovers would do – go ahead with the dinner anyway and celebrate the New Year with some great wine.

This was my first visit to Elio, an Italian restaurant which is based in Leichhardt and I would certainly go back for an offline in future. The food was excellent, service was very friendly and most importantly they were one of the few places open on New Years Day. Corkage was $5.50 per bottle which is about average for decent Sydney restauarants.

Krug Grande Cuvée MV – (Champagne, France): My first taste of Krug MV (multi-vintage blend) and I’m almost already a convert. Full, powerful nose of almonds, hazelnut, yeast and toast, while at the same time exhibiting fresh citrusy lemon and lime characters. Exceptional length on the palate with waves of flavour. I could easily get used to this! My favourite wine on this evening.. 95/100

Tyrrell’s Vat 47 Chardonnay 2000 – (Hunter Valley, New South Wales): Citrus, peaches and a touch of butter and oak in the background. Quite a powerful, intense palate. Not showing much development yet but has the structure to hold while secondary characters are taken on. 89/100

Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 1998 – (Margaret River, Western Australia): Herbaceous, grass, tobacco leaf, tinned beans and what I thought was a whiff of disinfectant on the nose. A tangy element to the palate. I didn’t enjoy this but others at the table did. I came back to the wine later in the evening to see if my opinion would be kinder to it after some time had passed, but I still didn’t like it. 84/100

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 1997 – (Margaret River, Western Australia): Oatmeal, citrus, toasty oak and a bit of cheese dominate the aromas. Nice creamy mouth-feel but a touch of acid sticking out disrupts the line and otherwise good length. 89/100

Bass Phillip Reserve Pinot Noir 2000 – (Gippsland, Victoria):This may be the only wine that I come close to picking blind this year at offline and I didn’t get the vintage, but I’ll take what I can get. Would not (and did not) pick this as being as young as 2000.

Stalks, cherries, violets, some confection and a touch of earthiness. Upfront, very smooth and easy to drink but also showing good texture and structure. I really quite liked the wine, but I rather less like the price tag associated. 92/100

Domaine Jean Gros Vosne-Romanee 1989 – (Burgundy, France): Earth, wild mushrooms, sour cherries and some spicy oak aromas form the forward nose of this wine. The palate lets the wine down a little bit, with some acid poking through that I don’t think will be resolved with any further time. 90/100

Chateau Bon Pasteur 1995 – (Bordeaux, France): Freshly shaved sawdust and tobacco on the nose. Tannic and lacking fruit. I didn’t pick any obvious TCA elements but will give the wine the benefit of the doubt as one member of the table had a better bottle previously. Not Rated

Pillitteri Estates Winery Sparkling Icewine Riesling 2002 – (Ontario, Canada): An interesting and unusual experience. Only a very light sparkle to it. Lifted fresh nose of apricots, raisins, lemon, pear and ginger. The palate was very sweet on its own but was toned down slightly when having it with dessert. Acid structure is there in the background but needs to come forward a little to achieve balance.

This is the first vintage of sparkling Riesling Icewine from this winery (and apparently the first sparkling Riesling Icewine from the region) and I’m sure they’ll improve the results with more experience. 89/100

Charles Melton Sparkling Red NV (Disgorged Nov-99) – (Barossa Valley, South Australia):Cherries along with spicy and meaty notes comprise the nose. Palate had just a touch of sweetness about it. Not bad. 87/100

From the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia – Almost no sediment. Browning only a slight amount around the edges of the otherwise deep red colour. Intoxicating nose – Savoury, earthy, briary with a touch of leather and a small hint of menthol. A fully mature, complex palate. Excellent length and balance. At its peak and showing no signs of fading. It’s super wines like this that remind me of why I’m so fascinated by this subject. 95/100 Drink: Now – 2007

A nose of fresh apples, citrus and just a slight hint of yeast. Palate also shows fresh fruit and a little kick of refreshing acidity. Simple but somewhat calming for the price (Around $17AU). 85/100 Drink: Now

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

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.

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

For the one year anniversary of Wine Blogging Wednesday, we return to the founder of the event, as the host of the event at Lenndevours

The theme for this month was to “Drink Local, Real Local”, with the idea being to try a wine from the vineyard that is closest to where you live. I had a number of regions to choose from that are reasonably close to Sydney; the Hunter Valley, Southern Highlands and Mudgee to name a few. However, after some research, it turns out that there are a small number of vineyards remaining in the Sydney basin area, about 30 minutes travel from my home.

Using the Geoscience Australia Location Database, I discovered the very closest vineyard to be Vicary’s Winery at Luddenham, 27.4 kilometres away. So off I went to see what it had to offer. Read on to find out the results.

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A group of five ruffians and vagabonds from the Winestar Forum assembled at the Peasant’s Feast in Newtown to enjoy some food and wine.

The Restaurant: Peasant’s Feast is billed as Sydney’s only organic food dinner restaurant.

The food was down to earth, tasty and servings were generous. The staff were friendly, but a little bit slow at times.

Overall, very good value for money, the bill was under $40AU per head for corkage, entree, mains, cheese and coffee.

The Wines:

Most wines were tasted blind -

Mount Pleasant McWilliams Elizabeth Semillon 1996 (Hunter Valley, New South Wales): A very good start to the evening while we waited for the stragglers to arrive. Nice intensity to the nose. Lots of developed toast and honey characters but showed a bit watery/short on the finish. Ready to drink now. 91 Points

Te Kairanga Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 (Martinbourough, New Zealand): Initially I thought there was something weird going on with the nose and there was a decidedly green note to the finish, but it seemed to blow after 45-60 minutes. Quite enjoyable and would be better served after spending the next 5 years in a cellar. 89 Points

Noel Verset Cornas 1993 (Cornas, Northern Rhone, France): Brett-tastic! I wasn’t able to get into this, too much animal dominating the nose and palate. Very savoury. I believe this was a poor vintage in the Northern Rhone as well. 84 Points

Chateau Lascombes 1985 (Margaux, Bordeaux, France): I was told beforehand that I would hate this, but I much preferred it over the Rhone wine and would have rated this my second favourite wine of the night. Plenty of pencil shavings and cigar box characteristics. This wine is ready to drink now and is unlikely to get any better with additional age. 92 Points

Grosset Pinot Noir 1999 (Adelaide Hills, South Australia): Well made, with good fruit, but there was quite an obvious stalky character that put me off a bit. There are still only a few PN producers in Australia that compel me to purchase and Grosset isn’t among them yet. 87 Points

Smidge “The Tardy” Zinfandel 2002 (Langhorne Creek, South Australia): Tastes that were described were tomato chutney, green tomatoes, vegemite, ratatouille and more. I had a much better bottle of the 2003 version of this wine last year. This bottle was bordering on undrinkable. 79 Points

Wendouree Shiraz Malbec 2001 (Clare Valley, South Australia): Big, but not as tannic as I would have expected if I’d been told it was a Wendouree beforehand. Very good structure and I believe it’s going to be great if it’s given at least ten years rest before being opened. 91 Points

Rockford Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 (Barossa Valley, South Australia): A very classy wine, and my wine of the night. It was discussed that this was actually quite similar to the Chateau Lascombes tasted earlier in the night. Great structure and balance. 93 Points

All in all, a very enjoyable evening with some good wine, good food and great company.

Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Hastings River, New South Wales Winemaker: Jim Mobbs Variety: 100% Chardonnay Closure: Cork Oak: 8 weeks in 3-yo French Oak RRP: $14.50 AU

The second of the promised two Chardonnay notes. A complete contrast to the Briar Ridge wine tasted earlier in the week with a minimal amount of oak treatment…

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