Qantas Winter Wine Festival
Town Hall, Sydney
Tasted Saturday, June 23, 2018 by chatters with 296 views
Introduction
Massive tasting at Town Hall was, ostensibly, for Qantas to show their Winter wines and for me to have the pleasure of tasting them. Wines are in no specific order - I did the whites first then worked my way around the reds though.
Flight 1 (52 Notes)
Closing
Phew…could have probably got through more wines but I was just a little bit tuckered so retired before last orders was called (an exceedingly rare occurrence). All in all a rather impressive selection of wines on show. I am impressed by Woodlands, Fraser Gallop and Sons of Eden especially...but there were plenty of other pleasers here
2015 Hobbs Tango
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Range
plenty of oak, ripe black fruit and a little apricot, sweet spice…juicy, tight, drying tannins over slightly sour fruit, Nah.
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2014 Brokenwood Shiraz Wade Block 2
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
Reductive, dusty plums and black fruit, gritty tannins, slight pepper spice, cream, slight vanilla, muted black fruits
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2016 Craggy Range Chardonnay Single Vineyard Kidnappers Vineyard
New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay
Butter, toast, sweet spice, muted stone fruit. A little bitter on the palate. Meh.
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2015 Craggy Range Syrah Le Sol Gimblett Gravels Vineyard
New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels
Blackberry and black pepper, slight cedar and stalks, drying taninns peppery spice with muted black fruit, Hmm.
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2015 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
Slightly reductive black berry, cedar, cream…dense, concentrated, massive tannins with wet, fleshy black fruits, Huge amounts of time required here.
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2017 Fraser Gallop Chardonnay Parterre Wilyabrup
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
medium minus intensity aromas of sweet spice, slight nectarine, peach, butter and toast. On the palate it's tangy and fresh though the fruit drops quite quickly, otherwise it's balanced and pleasant.
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2016 Henschke Chardonnay Archer's Vineyard
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
Smells quite dense and a little worked - cedar & woody spices, butter, cream, yoghurt. Ugh on the palate.
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2017 Howard Park Riesling Mount Barker
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Mount Barker
lemon, lime, slight kumquat, wet stone, bone dry, similar flavours but muted. Hmm
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2017 Howard Park Chardonnay
Australia, Western Australia
meaty herbs, wild ferment, quite savoury, citrus over muted oak and butter, creamy textured...
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2013 Hewitson Mourvèdre Old Garden
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Pretty, spiced red berries, clay, cream and vanilla. Similar on the palate with chalky tannins.
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2014 Hewitson Shiraz Falkenberg Flawed
Australia, South Australia, Barossa
Corked FLAW
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2016 Hewitson Shiraz Mother Vine Monopole
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
concentrated red currant, mineral, seashells, softly textured, a little flabby, almost. Nah.
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2015 Kaesler Shiraz The Bogan
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
slightly funky, reductive, farty black fruits and savoury spice. Sweeter on the palate with the black fruit more pleasing supported by pepper and sweet spice with chalky tannins.
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2015 Kaesler Old Vine Shiraz
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Medium minus intensity aromas of pretty black fruits, cherry and berry, spice, cedar, polished. Rich, dense but still fresh, loads of front of mouth grip doesn't detract. Pretty clever.
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2014 Kaesler Shiraz Alte Reben
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Concentrated herbaceous red fruit, plenty of glue as well. Over concentrated, earthy, touches, awful.
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2015 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
Earthy, slightly funky red berries, cedar, herbaceous. Sour and unpleasant.
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2015 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°2
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
Red currant, unripe Ribena, cedar, wet clay. A little sharply too sour tightly tannins. Meh.
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2017 Moss Wood Sémillon
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Ripe apple, slightly candied notes, zesty, fresh…apples, cut grass, difficult to spit. Pretty handy and a good alternative to the standard Hunter fayre.
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2015 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon Ribbon Vale
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Cream, butter, blackcurrant, cedar, soft textured but with drying tannins, fruit is a little muted.
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2015 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Confected blackcurrant, cream, slight pencil shavings, cedar and sweet spice. Juicy, lightly spiced, not as confected on the palate but still perfectly ripe. Lovely.
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2016 Ross Hill Chardonnay Pinnacle Series
Australia, New South Wales, Central Ranges, Orange
Slightly bitter, butter, lemon with mandarin. It's a little sour on the palate and is slightly bitter again. Nah.
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2017 Serafino Chardonnay Sharktooth Wild Ferment
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
Peach tending to tropical fruit oak, slight butter more of the same on the palate with a little mid palate burr. Hmm
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2014 Serafino Shiraz Sharktooth
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
Hullo oak! Blackberry, black pepper, cream vanilla, slight crushed rock sits under this oaky layer. Talc textured tannins, broad, dense, broad, black fruit. Hmm
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2013 Serafino Syrah Terremoto Single Vineyard
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
A little reductive, massively concentrated blackberry fruit, slight spice. Juicy with very slight stakes, muted black fruit and far nicer than the nose implied. Still very primary but balanced.
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2014 Fraser Gallop Cabernet Sauvignon Parterre Wilyabrup Margaret River
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Eucalyptus, pencil shavings, blackcurrant, under brambles. Juicy, very front to back of the mouth, plenty of drying tannic grip with blackcurrant, brambles…nice.
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2017 Shaw and Smith Pinot Gris The Other Wine Company
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
melon, slightly funky, spicy, slight bitter. Meh
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2018 Shaw and Smith Sauvignon Blanc
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
Clean, crisp, passion fruit, cut grass…sour acidity, textured burr on the mid palate with similar fruit flavours. Does what it says on the bottle.
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2016 Shaw and Smith Chardonnay M3 Vineyard
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
Polished, toasted oak, peachy fruit, butter, big and bold. More of the same on the palate. Yum.
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2017 Sons of Eden Riesling Freya
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
Quite mineral, finger lime, tangy but a little sharp and bitter on the palate
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2016 Sons of Eden Shiraz Remus Old Vine
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
Jubey, meaty, wild ferment, still pretty but more savoury than the Romulus. Tannins are more prominent here as well. Fruit is savoury. Long, balanced, lovely.
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2016 Sons of Eden Shiraz Romulus
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Jubey and pretty black and red berry. Juicy, jubey, fruity, very young and very pleasing. Yum.
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2017 Ironcloud Pepperilly Sauvignon Blanc - Semillon
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe Ferguson Valley
Medium minus intensity aromas that are slightly smoky with green fruit…a little sharp and bitter. Meh
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2017 Aylesbury Estate Sauvignon Blanc Waterfall Gully
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe Ferguson Valley
Passion fruit, clean, simple, well made
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2017 Windfall Wine Estate Chardonnay Singlehanded
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe
Medium minus intensity stone fruit, clean, again, fresh, simple but at this price point (AUD 28) it needs to be better than that.
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2017 Thistledown Riesling Courtesan
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
Smoked lime, lime cordial tending to lime pith on the palate. Wet, fresh. Hmm
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2015 Thistledown Shiraz Silken Beastie
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Slightly reductive red and black berry, pepper, sweet spice, almost off dry, the fruit is a little sweet on the palate in fact with a smidge of pepper on the finish.
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2016 Thistledown Shiraz Bachelor's Block
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Ooh, whole berry pretty dark fruit, blackberry, tight grippy taninns but the fruit persists past this, still very young but balanced and shows promise. Good
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2017 Thorn-Clarke Pinot Gris Sandpiper
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
Pear over rock melon…juicy, tangy, a little short perhaps but perfectly fresh and drinkable
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2016 Thorn-Clarke Grenache Trail
Australia, South Australia, Barossa
Funky and slightly reductive, hmm on the nose but more berried on the palate but the talc textured tannins dry out the fruit. Meh
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2014 Thorn-Clarke Shiraz William Randell
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
Concentrated, slightly reductive, black berry and peppery spic, toasted cedar on the nose and it's similarly concentrated and dense on the palate, plenty of black fruits, tight talc textured tannins, medium plus length. Good but not for me.
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2017 Vasse Felix Classic Dry White
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Slightly smoky hay, apple…crisp, clean, refreshing, rather nice as a summer evaporator…
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2017 Vasse Felix Chardonnay Filius
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Melon, sweet spice…meh…another indifferent 25-30 AUD chardonnay. Not good enough. Mind you this is probably their 'third' chardonnay behind the estate and the heytesbury…not that that is any defence.
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2016 Vasse Felix Chardonnay Margaret River
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
sweet spice, melon, peach, butter, oak…zesty stone fruit, plenty of butter, mid palate burr…hmm
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2015 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Slightly jammy blackcurrant fruit, creamy and rich…smells dense. Grippy tannins ,fruit is a little short so this falls into the Meh category especially at 40 AUD a bottle
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2016 Voyager Estate Sauvignon Blanc Sémillon
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
medium minus intensity aromas of cut grass and green apple with a touch of passion fruit. Burr on mid palate and the acidity is a little sharp for me…
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2015 Voyager Estate Chardonnay
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Butter, slight toasted oak, served a little cool but I can still get some stone fruit out of this…More citrus on the palate but with plenty of butter and slight toasted nuts notes.
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2013 Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Slightly herbaceous blackcurrant, saline, plums, cedar. Juicy, tangy, wet black currant and muted plum with silky drying tannins. Perfectly pleasant
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2016 Penfolds Chardonnay Max's
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
stone fruit, peach, butter, toast, slight nuts…palate similar, a little flabby and a touch of bitterness on the finish
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2014 Wolf Blass Black Label
Australia, South Australia
Black currant black berry, plum, vanilla, toasted oak, buttery, slight pepper, tight but silky tannins; plenty of grip here but the fruit persist long Big and beastly…10 years?
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2017 Woodlands Chardonnay
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Citrus: Lemon & grapefruit, sweet spice, slight butter…fresh, juicy, clean, harmonious, long, lovely. Punching above It's weight.
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2015 Woodlands Margaret
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Herbaceous, eucalyptus, pencil shavings, slightly unripe blackcurrant and brambles…fresh brambles, herbaceous notes, slight flour textured tannins, still young but great.
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2014 Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon Matthew
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
Medium plus intensity aromas of black fruits, cedar, pencil shavings, similarly concentrated on the palate, the fruit persists under the chalky tannic grip. Time required and not really that nice at the moment.
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