NobleRottersSydney - 1996 South Aust reds

This was going to be a cracker. The best South Australian red wine vintage since 1990; Rotters bringing respected wines (mostly); stand by for a top night…

• 2010 Hamelin Bay Chardonnay Blanc de Blanc

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

  [cork, 12.4%]{Glenn} Fizz from Margaret River is certainly a novelty. Bright, youthful nose of granny smith apples; which crisply manifest themselves on the palate too. A light-medium body doesn’t preclude rather aggressive, if small bubbles. It’s extraordinarily fresh, but this does rather come at the expense of complexity; there’s not a lot of bottle-ferment character with a 2010 vintage, obviously. A wine to drink in the harsh summer sun of Western Australia, not a wood-panelled dining room.

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• 1996 Wolf Blass Cabernet Sauvignon Yellow Label

  Australia, South Australia

  [cork, 14%] {Geoffrey} Decanted immediately for a collapsed cork, but oxygen won’t revive a corpse. Old woody, leathery nose smells like a house ripe for demolition. And the palate’s already been carted away.

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• 1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [cork, 13%] {Stephen} Not decanted. Lovely dark, aged nose of currant and herb with a touch of vanilla. The palate is still somewhat fruity; coolish cabernet-like leaves, basil, herbs and dark berries meld with a light oak touch. Low level tannins are soft and chalky; the finish is medium-bodied, dry, and of medium length, although it was a little hollower than I expected somehow. Medium length finish. Probably would have showed better with some decanter time; seems to be at peak on this showing.

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• 1996 Normans Cabernet Sauvignon Chais Clarendon

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [cork, 12.5%] {Graeme} No decant. First vintage of this, from a maker since gone to Southcorp’s (or Mildara’s?) brand graveyard. Classic crowd-pleasing nose of plush plums and vanilla, but all very aged. The palate is still juicy; positively infused with american oak. There’s a greenish note to the medium tannins which will finish up dominating everything I think; overall this is medium-bodied with a medium-length, fairly even, sound-but-simple finish. Probably past its best, but will cling on for a few more years.

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• 1996 Peter Lehmann Shiraz Eight Songs

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [cork, 14.5%] {DavidC} Poured without decanting. Sweetly spicy aged cinnamon & sandalwood aromas. Raspberry jam with a touch of cedar. The palate’s pretty luscious still; the rich fruit evident on the palate picks up a peppery touch and culminates in an almost caramel-like sweetness. Medium dusty tannins charge through on the medium-length finish; it’s still not more than medium-bodied overall – this was Lehmann’s first pitch at an elegant french-oaked shiraz after years of american oak. It concludes with a touch of warmth; but nothing to suggest it hasn’t got another 5-8 years of decent cellaring left in the tank. Pretty good wine all round.

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• 1996 Yalumba The Signature Flawed

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [cork, 14%] {DavidM} Had a 2-hour decent prior to tasting but there’s something definitately wrong here. The nose is nasty; cabbage-like, with some aceto-bacterial infection going on or something. The palate is dull dank and volatile, with soft tannins, no presence, no finish. Oxidised? Stuffed, at any rate.

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• 1996 Yalumba Shiraz The Octavius

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [cork, 14.5%] {Greg} Opened and poured. The massive dill-and-coconut nose you expect from this era smells old. The palate offers burnt caramel, coconut, vanilla, oak, oak. And oak. It’s medium to full-bodied with lots of chalky tannin still. The weight sits toward the front half of the tongue, and the finish is medium length, but there’s no nuance here, no complexity. The medium length finish is part horror, part fascination – ah, there’s the complexity! Frankenstein’s monster is sweet 16…

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• 1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch Flawed

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [cork, 13.5%] {Graeme} Double decanted 3 hours prior. This should have been a triumph of the night, but the nose was bacterial and disgusting. The palate was stripped and flat. Seems to be a mix of brett and oxidation. Or something. Not obviously corked, though. A disaster.

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• 1996 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707

  Australia, South Australia

  [cork, 13.5%] {Gordon} Double-decanted about 3 hours prior to drinking. Developing nose of classic Penfolds CS style; dark currants laced with vanilla and meat. The core of the palate is rich and ripe; the acid’s a little jangly; it has high level powdery tannins, and the oak is settling in. The fruit is still quite primal in many ways; it has a long even palate and a long finish, but needs lots more time to soften and charm. Keep another ten years at least for best effect, although it’s more rewarding to drink now than this note really indicates, I must admit.

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• 1996 Lindeman's Cabernet Sauvignon St. George

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [cork, 13%] {DavidM} Opened as a back-up, with so many earlier disappointments; all this did was add to them. A dark green olive note; developing, but dark and subdued aromas constituted the nose. The palate was lean and mean; has some leafy cabernet-derived black fruits in an aged way; soft gritty tannins, about medium-bodied weight, and a washed-out, short finish. Oh dear. As it turned out, this was a harbinger of Lindemans Coonawarra for the following ten years. Another dud, although I suspect this is a typical example, unlike the night’s previous poor bottles.

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• 2011 Scarborough Wine Co Late Harvest Riesling

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  [375ml, screwcap, 9.5%] {Glenn} This is a wine of gently-honeyed sweetness, light-medium-bodied, with decent acid, but hard to pin down. It’s bright and severe, even steely and bracing, but despite the sweetness seems to lack a core. It’s a kind of exoskeleton wine. Weird, or maybe it’s just me. Lacks a warm minerally note that gives sweeter rieslings their charm. Perhaps a little time will help.

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• 2009 Delas Frères Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise La Pastourelle

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise

  [375ml, cork, 15%] {Glenn} Sweet pineapple and musk aromas with syrupy candy flavours, but I always find MdBdV dominated by alcoholic heat. This seems to be a sound example if you like the style.

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Well, despite a few decent wines – the ever-reliable Penfolds, along with the standard Wynns and the 8 songs – the night was a bit of a fizzer, especially given what should have been a hugely successful theme. You just can’t pick them.