High Scoring Aussies Offline

This was a great night featuring some wines with very high Robert Parker scores: The 2005 Kaesler the Bogan was given 96pts, The Mollydooker Blue-Eyed Boy 96pts, Glaetzer AMON-Ra 97-100pts, The Henry's Drive 97pts, and the Kalleske Greenock 94pts. This was a great opportunity to assess for ourselves where these wines fall for our palates. Wines were generally evaluated as a flight of 4 with the opportunity to revisit the wines through the evening.

• 2009 Praxis Pinot Noir 87 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Monterey County

  Medium bright red color. Nose is fruity with raspberry, and some cherry and some sublte earth. The palate is light in body, raspberries, some spice, a bit overly acidic. OK, I would not buy.

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• 2002 Fox Creek Shiraz Reserve 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Purple red color. The nose starts off with mint, eucalyptus, herbal with a sweetness, developes some light earth notes and then evolves over about 20-30 minutes to show creme de cassis The palate shows some spice, oak, blackberry liquer, cassis and has some sharp edges on the tannins at first. This also resolved over 20-30 mintes. Does not have the depth or fruit of some of the others. I don't know that I would sit on these for long. On presentation, this was at 90pts and evolved to a solid 91-92pts. 91+pts for me.

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• 2004 Kalleske Shiraz Greenock 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Dark purple red color, heavy sediment. Decanted for 1 hour initially. Nose shows eucalyptus, sweet florals, camphor, cassis, blackberry, truffles and earth emerge along with cedar notes. Interestingly, there was a luscious chocolate aroma after the inital decant at one hour that was not present when this was poured from the recorked bottle. It never did emerge again for me. The palate shows earth, cedar, blackberry, tart black cherry, good acidity, moderate depth, and a very long finish. This wine was interesting in that it seemed to almost breakdown after about 30 minutes, only to re-emerge as strong as ever. Drinking well on day 2.

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• 2002 Henry's Drive Shiraz Reserve 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Padthaway

  Dark purple/red color. loads of mint on the nose, eucalyptus, sweet nose, meat, menthol, cassis, blackberries and spices. The palate has black fruits with excellent body, black pepper, oak, menthol and medium plus finish. Really impressive.

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• 2006 Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage Les Trois Chênes 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage

  Very dark red color. This wine was the old world goose with a bunch of new world ducks. That really didn't help it much. The nose was full of funk, starting out with a significant barnyard element. The barnyard dissipates, but is not resolved entirely, the earthy funk is the really the overwhelming hallmark of the nose with some florals. The fruit is in the background here with some cassis and black cherry. The palate is a little light and lean with prominent acidity. Not nearly as good as the 2007. 89-90pts.

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• 2005 Kaesler Shiraz The Bogan 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Purple color. Nose is floral with really nice fruits, plum, blackberry, spices, and earth. Full body with great concentration on the palate. Very well balanced, long finish. My #2 WOTN by an absolute hair over the Henry's Drive, Group #2 WOTN tied with the Henry's Drive with 9pts each.

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• 2002 Turley Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Purple color. Nose shows some heat initially, licorice, blackberry, leather, spicy. The palate is bit thin, but shows black fruits, pepper, medium body and finish.

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• 2007 Mollydooker Shiraz Blue Eyed Boy 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Purple red color. Nose is very nice with blueberries, blackberry, cassis, licorice, spice, earth and eucalyptus, initially some alcohol in the background that blows off. The palate has full body, nice black fruits with some tartness, spicy oak, and a long finish. Very good.

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• 2006 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 96 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Purple color. Stunningly good wine. Absolutely beautiful. The nose just shines with lovely blueberries followed by creme de cassis, plum, mulberry, earth, oak, and spices. The palate is so plush and round in the mouth, full bodied with layers of fruit balanced by spices, oak and round well integrated tannins. Extraordinary finish. Decanted one hour prior and served at 64 degrees. This was head and shoulders above everthing else tonight and that says a lot. Hedonistic pleasure! My WOTN, group WOTN with 19 of 21 pts.

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• 2005 Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Medium yellow color. Lemon and citrus, pear, apricot, light florals and spice. The palate is medium bodied with a nice roundness, lemon, pear, peach, minerals, and a spicy finish. Persistent finish. 90-91pts.

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All of the main wines showed very well. Scoring was a 3-2-1 pts system for the top 3 wines. The overwhelming WOTN was the 2006 Glaetzer AMON-Ra with 6 of 7 first place votes and 19 of 21 possible points. The Henry's Drive and Kaesler The Bogan were tied for group #2 WOTN with 9 pts each.

This was a wonderful evening and a great format!