NobleRottersSydney - Best Oz vintages 90-02

Rotters gather to pick the eyes out of some top, 10+ year old vintages. In the end, there were rather a lot of 1998s, and a few forests of malty oak too, as was the trend at the time. Wines were served blind, with some desultory options questions thrown in, with pretty mediocre success rates.

• NV Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier

  France, Champagne

  [12%, cork] {Bruce} Current/updated label, so quite fresh. As ever a classy drop, combining fresh leesy and strawberry aromas and flavours. The bubbles aren’t microscopic, but they are creamily-textured; the wine is medium-bodied, and although we drank it as an aperitif, it has enough heft to stand up to food too. There’s no better champagne for the money in Australia, I reckon.

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• 1998 Lindeman's Cabernet Sauvignon St. George

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [13%, cork,] {DavidC} Double-decanted a few hours before. Could have sworn this was McLaren Vale shiraz; big, aged nose of vanilla and spice. Even unveiled, I can’t find real cabernet character here. Once strong tannins have faded to a light dusty presence, it’s medium-bodied but with a distinct hollowness on the mid-palate. Anonymous, generic ‘old-wine’ flavours. Soft acid too. Needs drinking. Unrecongisable as the same wine from last year, and also one of the last decent vintages from this label, which has faded into near-obscurity this century.

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• 1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [13.5%, cork] {Geoffrey} Double-decanted a few hours before.Lots of vanilla here, along with musty, leafy and compost aromas. Cabernet? Medium-full bodied, this too is somewhat over-oaked for me, although it retains a leafy sourness of varietal authenticity. The tannins have really backed-off in the last few years; even a couple of years ago this was still swingeingly astringent. Other Rotters were bigger fans than I; it seems a bit disjointed to me, not having attained full maturity yet. Despite a slightly short finish, I’m inclined to allow this more time still to come together. Hold.

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• 2002 Houghton Jack Mann

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Frankland River

  [14%, cork] {Glenn} Decanted just prior to dinner. Quite aged. A touch sweaty with aromas of dusty leather and old whips. The palate is quite rich, with leafy but ripe currant fruits; perhaps the malbec adds a rustic touch. Medium-full bodied, with medium dusty tannins, but a good even palate; the flavours coat the mid-palate well. Solid medium-length finish. Well and truly ready to drink on this showing, but ought to hold a while.

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• 1998 Tyrrell's Shiraz Vat 9

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  [13.3%, cork] {Gordon} Double-decanted a few hours before.The surprise packet of the night, this seems to have avoided the brettanomyces that was starting to infect Tyrell’s reds in the last years of the century. There was an initial glue-like note on the nose, along with earthy spices, but it was never unpleasant. A touch of volatility just lifts it too. There are plush aged red berry fruits on the palate, framed with medium powdery tannins (not oaky at all), and leading to a soft, medium-length finish which kept evolving in the glass. Medium-bodied, and with lovely presence on the tongue, on this showing should easily last another 5 years without decay. A major surprise, and a great advertisement for old oak and lower alcohol.

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• 1996 Barossa Valley Estate Shiraz E & E Black Pepper

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [14.5%, cork] {DavidM} Double-decanted 5 hours prior to dinner. A bigger contrast to the Tyrrell’s you couldn’t imagine. Vast nose of american oak – all vanilla & coconut. Some white pepper notes balance against a resin-like note. The palate is really oaky too, with lots of rather coarse gritty tannins, but there is plenty of developed raspberry fruit to absorb it. Most of the action is on the front half of the palate; the finish is medium length. In the end the texture seems to work OK, if you like oak. I just couldn’t get excited about it. Other were more impressed.

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• 1998 Jim Barry Shiraz The Armagh

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  [14.5%, cork] {Craig - guest) Decanted just prior to dinner.This is oaky and vanilla-infused too, but there’s a tobacco touch to the fruit here which adds interest. The powerful tannins are fine and powdery; it’s medium-bodied, with dark liquorice flavours, along with some vanilla and chocolate. This is a pretty impressive wine, with a medium-long finish and good weight through the mid-palate. It was evidently shiraz, but not quite so mentholly as many Clare wines are. Also the youngest-tasting of the wines tonight so far. This has plenty of years left I think; there’s still some freshness to the fruit which the previous reds mostly lacked.

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• 1998 Rosemount Estate Syrah Balmoral

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [14.5%, cork] {Stephen} Double-decanted a few hours before. An aged, festy, compost-like nose doesn’t bode well. The lipped bottle gave the options questions away – but this was consistent with previous bottles. 98 Balmoral is well past its best. There are still lots of chalky tannins here, but the nose is all iodine and raisins, and not tasty either. Clearly at the end of the road, and widely agreed upon by the table.

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• 1990 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707

  Australia, South Australia

  [13.5%, cork] {Gordon} Bottle 51271. Double-decanted a few hours before. Aged nose; classy. A kaleidescope of black fruits, vanilla, oak; but deeply and seductively aromatic. Palate is equally wonderful; the mix of cool and warm-climate cabernet flavours works a treat with rich sweet oak (not over-done), medium dusty tannins, and medium-full weight. All the palate is engaged by what is a fairly smooth texture; some at table felt it a little too soft. For me the more you sniffed and tasted, the more there was to this wine. Very special. Close to peak, surely, but will obviously hold for a while.

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• 1998 De Bortoli Durif Deen Vat 1

  Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina

  [13%, cork] {Bruce} Aged nose here; vanilla and plums. The palate is earthy, sour and rather coarse. Medium gritty tannins remain, it’s medium-bodied but the fruit has faded to leatheryness leaving nothing very much in its place, all making a rather dessicated impression on the palate. Past its best.

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• 1991 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Centenary

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [12.5%, cork] {Graeme} Double-decanted a few hours before. Still a dark garnet colour. The nose is aged, but just reeks of vanilla and american oak. There are some spicy red fruits underneath, but it’s nearly too much. The palate does have plenty of flavour; it coats all the tongue in a medium-full bodied way, there are lots of powdery tannins, and medium acidity. An old-fashioned alcohol level helps the freshness – it certainly doesn’t taste 20 years old. For all that, there isn’t really the development of complexity here; it’s a bit much of a one-trick pony with that barrel seasoning. Even the fairly long finish is just a bit of a monotone. It’s a legitimate style, and objectively a pretty good wine, but it’s not better than the Bin 707. It’s not about to fall apart though, and it could be held longer, but if it hasn’t got multi-dimensional flavours to show now, I can’t imagine they’ll ever arrive.

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• 1992 Wilton Estate Sémillon Botrytis

  Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina

  [375ml, 10.5%, cork] {Bruce} Ancient, dusty nose. Smells like an old vacuum cleaner. The palate is an interesting mix of drying sweetness against a collapsing structure; it’s getting a bit astringent, but the honey/botrytis flavours are still there, aging decadently. Medium-bodied, simple, but fun to drink a little.

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• 1990 Lindeman's Bin 7690 Porphyry

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  [375ml, 9%, cork] {Bruce} Quite a dark amber. Lifted, aged caramel and marzipan nose. Marmalade and apricot flavours, aged yet still rich and sweet. Medium-bodied, with a faintly tannic touch, clean medium-length finish, and good richness and presence along the tongue. This blend of semillon and riesling (exact region unspecified) has done well, especially for a half-bottle. I wouldn’t count on holding it much longer, though.

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This really was a good night. The durif apart, you’d have been pretty happy to drink any of these wines on a stand-alone basis, although I can’t help thinking that some of them would have been better with less new oak. As the years go by 1998 especially looks more like a vintage where you need to seek wines made with as little intervention as possible; the makers back then must certainly have been popular with their coopers.