Auswine offline

Posted from the Auswine forum for the information of all. The Red Bigots hit town, and a Sydney gaggle of Auswine forumites and associates gathered for an offline on Sunday March 11 to celebrate the occasion. We crammed around an elongated table at Darlinghurst’s Water-on-Sunday restaurant, at least until we managed to annex another table and spread ourselves a bit thinner. We were sixteen dedicated drinkers and drivers (either one or the other, obviously - we’re not that irresponsible) with narry a bottle of chardonnay between us. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

• 1994 Seppelt Salinger Vintage Cuvee

  Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Great Western

  Southcorp’s top sparkler, this presented a gentle nose of figs & cashews. Very clean, with a fine mousse – no chance of being mistaken for some dirty champagne. It was quite fresh & appetising – initially moderately dry, but far from flinty. In fact, I found it quite sweet, but in a fruity kind of way, not residual sugar.

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• 1994 Pipers Brook Vineyard Pinot Noir Pelion

  Australia, Tasmania

  Pale brick red. Initially a damp, slightly dungy nose of earth and stewed vegetables, through which a gentle waft of strawberry fruit began to show. Although quite a light wine on the palate, it was nicely balanced and would have perfect with quail, for example. Despite being quite soft, it was in no way thin or overly acidic, and had a good medium length finish. Very pleasant and satisfying wine.

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• 1996 Mount Mary Triolet

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Very pale straw colour. A grassy nose, with hints of straw – a bit more toward the lemony semillon quality than the gooseberry of SB. On the palate the fruit is well submerged under citrus and acid, which is very sharp. Mt Mary don’t make this as an early drinker, and it’s obvious why. It finishes a bit short – though it would be ideal with an oily fish dish at the moment. I like the Triolet, but I prefer it with a bit more age when it develops more toasty, lanolin flavours.

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• 1993 Mitchelton Riesling Blackwood Park

  Australia, Victoria

  Mid yellow. Slightly toasty nose, with honey and passionfruit predominating. There’s just enough acid to carry to a moderately dry, medium length finish which is very attractive. This bottle was clearly opened at the right time – I don’t think there’s any improvement left. Drink up.

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• 1992 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz Cellar Reserve

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  Attractive purple-red. Distinctly herbaceous nose. Quite full on palate, with strong flavours of spice and pepper. Although the tannins seemed somewhat softened to me at first, they continued to build on the palate, and were all that remained of a medium length finish. Not sufficient fruit to carry the weight of oak imparted, so resulting in an essentially unbalanced wine, but not fatally so. With the right food, still an attractive wine, but maybe showing the difficulties in trying to make a style of wine for which vintage conditions are simply not suitable? Seems this wine - in view of its singular existance, and the corresponding gap in the pedigree of the 'Michael' shiraz - was in fact intended to be that wine, but felt to be not up to scratch. Wise decision, I would say.

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• 1995 Bannockburn Pinot Noir

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong

  Pale brick red. Surprising nose of jammy fruits, positively bursting from the glass. Stunning velvety palate of raspberry fruits. Beautifully integrated wine, all its components elegantly harmonised to the point where its difficult to isolate them individually. The medium weight translates to a long silky finish. Wish I’d brought the Riedel burg glass…

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• 1990 John's Blend Cabernet Sauvignon Individual Selection

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek

  Still deep red, no bricking. Sweet coconut & vanilla US oak is all I can detect on the nose. My goodness. The label says aged in oak for 30 months – could be 30 years. There’s a little blackberry fruit buried somewhere on the palate, but the sweet oaky flavours dominate everything. The tannins are quite fine, but still overpowering in the last analysis. I can’t help feeling that by the time the tannins have receded the fruit will be gone. Too much oak for me, but I for those who like the style it’s a great wine.

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• 1985 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  No ullage. Incredible deep deep red colour with no hint of lightening. Magnificent nose dominated by secondary aromas – cedar, tobacco, and a patina of polished leather over aged blackcurrant fruit. Rich and spicy, a full palate free of holes, powerful and yet subtle, with a long finish. Absolutely delicious, a magnificent wine from an ignored vintage. Wow!

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• 1985 Château Haut-Bages Libéral

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Bright glowing red, with a tinge of brick. A classical bordeaux nose of cedar and lead pencil, with a slightly leafy fruit quality. Much softer than the preceding YY wine, still quite rich with secondary flavours, but lighter bodied, and more evidently acidic. Medium weight, but with lovely length. What it lacks in sheer power it compensates for with a gentle elegance. Drinking beautifully now.

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• 1990 Petaluma Cabernet Merlot Coonawarra

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  Dark crimson red. Absolute essence of cabernet. Rich nose of blackcurrant, chocolate, cassis and submerged vanillan oak. Tremendously rich and full on the palate. Perfect weight, balance and length. Didn’t have quite the concentrated power of the Yarra Yering, but was in no way inferior – almost blurry in the mouth, and with more obvious fruit flavours. Stunning wine – a privilege to drink.

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• 1991 The Rothbury Estate Shiraz Black Label

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  Still a lovely deep red. Aromas of menthol & spearmint, with rich spices and white pepper. Quite spicy and tannin on the palate, with a little Hunter earth and leather. In some ways quite lean, but it seemed more closed to me than lacking in fruit or tannin. Quite full on the palate in any case – I think this wine just needs a lot longer time to show at it’s best. 1991 was the greatest Hunter vintage for many years and I would expect a reserve shiraz (they did make a regular bottling) to only be hinting at its potential by now.

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• 1994 Jacob's Creek Shiraz Centenary Hill

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  A deep red black colour. A typical Barossa nose of blackberries, chocolate, spice and oak. On the palate very rich, a big whack of tannins and acid together – the structural elements are overwhelming the fruit at this stage. It’s a very big wine without being a ‘blockbuster’, and has great length. I think it really needs time to meld together properly – I always find wines with this much stuffing disappointing to drink at such a young age – I always think of how much potential of the wine I’ve wasted by drinking it so young. My advice – keep your Centenary Hill another 5 years unless you are a young wine junkie.

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• 1992 Zema Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  Lovely crimson red. Incredibly rich nose of blackberries and blackcurrants. Very forward and fruity – something of a surprise for the ‘bridesmaid’ 1992 vintage. Certainly didn’t show the minty characters of the ’92 Wynns. For me, the balance was front and mid-palate dominant. It’s OK, but not outstanding. The finish was medium length, and as dry as dust.

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• 1996 Petaluma Riesling

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  Mid straw yellow. A very tight lime & lemon nose with a hint of honeysuckle. This tastes to me like a riesling at that closed-down stage – not-quite primary fruit, not-quite aged characters. Still plenty of strong acid and a good long finish, but it seems a bit diffuse and unfocussed (rather like me) – I think it will improve considerably with a few more years (rather unlike me).

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• 1991 Mitchelton Shiraz Print

  Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria

  Another deep, dark red. Strong vanilla & somewhat coconutty aromas. Rich, fat, almost exaggerated red berry flavours with plenty of oak. Full and strong on palate with tremendous length. This wine is just hitting its straps and will get better I’m sure.

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• 1992 d'Arenberg Traminer The Noble

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Golden copper, almost verging on brown. A tea and caramel nose almost exactly reminiscent of Rutherglen tokay! On the palate there are some hints of aged passionfruit, sweetness and a little acid, but it all fades away quickly to a very short finish. Don’t think traminer can go the distance like riesling can. Acceptable, but not really memorable. Drink up!

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• 1981 Hardys Vintage Port

  Australia

  By this stage it’s normally getting hard for me to identify anything past a deep black/red, liquorice & cinnamon on the nose, and a warm, sweet-but-dry-finish, mostly front palate wine. Very nice, but more than I needed!

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Not one corked wine in the bunch, and none that could be called disappointing either. That always makes for a successful night. It’s nice to put faces to a few names from the forum as well, which serves to remind that most of the apparent aggro that happens on internet forums occurs simply because, as members of the TV generation, we are not used to clearly expressing ourselves in writing, and offence is taken where none is intended. What a good-humoured bunch of people there were at this dinner. Long may such civilisation continue!