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"2011" Sydney International Wine Show - stewarding notes
Blue Mountains, NSW
Tasted October 17, 2010 - October 22, 2010 by graemeg with 1,068 views
Introduction
The Sydney Top 100 International Wine Show is a long-running, rather unique, annual wine show. A highly qualified, hand picked panel of judges whittle a field of 2000 entries down to what they consider the 300 wines most likely to pair well with food. These 300 are grouped by style (light, medium, full-bodied) and then tasted with appropriate food. At the end of a week, a group of Top 100 wines are selected, and trophies awarded for the top wines.
At the “2011” show, which took place in October 2010, I was a steward. Apart from the chance to cart around and pour seemingly hundreds of bottles an hour, there is the chance at lunch and dinner to taste various wines surplus to judging requirements.
Flight 1 - Sunday October 17, 2010 (6 notes)
On arrival for the Stewards welcome dinner, we were able to feast on the leftover of the Judges Welcome lunch (wines opened & refrigerated several hours before.)
White
2007 Moorooduc Estate Chardonnay The Moorooduc
{screwcap} Youthful nose of bread and nutty aromas. The medium-bodied, lightly-oaked palate offers cool-climate stoney fruits, with a balanced medium-length finish. Plenty of time left to drink. Good effort.
White
2008 Salo Chardonnay
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$40} A warm, buttery nose precedes a fresh, clean but seemingly malo-influenced palate (flavour-wise) but which still manages to retain a decent lick of acidity which gives the wine some freshness. Sound enough, but not really memorable.
White
2008 Neudorf Chardonnay Moutere
{screwcap, 13.5%} Something of a cult kiwi white, it would seem. Creamy-smelling, youthful nose of cashew-infused white fruits and subtle oak. The palate is impressively multi-dimensional, with spicy, sandalwood overtones to the fleshy white fruit flavours. The oak contributes light powdery tannins. It’s a classy, persistent wine which grows in intensity and weight on the palate and culminates in a long nicely-balanced finish. Top effort.
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Red
2007 Yannick Amirault Bourgueil La Coudraye
{cork, 12.5%} Youthful, but dusty and smokey, with a dash of tobacco. Pure rather than dirty. The palate does retain a weedy touch, with dark cherry fruits and a smokey note. Soft chalky tannins and light-medium weight don’t prevent a fresh medium-length finish, with tails off with some herby & stalky notes which manage to avoid any suggestion of unripeness. Pretty nice wine all up.
Red
2008 Hahndorf Hill Winery Blaufränkisch
{screwcap, 14%} Bright ruby-crimson colour. Youthful, lifted aromas of candy, bubble gum and banana esters. All fruit, that’s for sure. The palate is equally fruity, with exuberant flavours of red jam and confectionary. No apparent oak. Despite the intensity of the fruit flavours, it remains very much on the light-bodied side, but the medium-length finish has a real element of heat to it. A cheerful early drinker from something of a novelty grape.
Red
2007 Gesellmann Cuvée No 20 Opus Eximium
{screwcap, 13.5%} A youthful-smelling but characterful blend of Blaufränkish, St Laurant and Zweigelt grapes. Brambly, rustic aromas. Open and easy-knit. Soft, rather gritty tannins, exotic cranberry-type fruit flavours in a very savoury style; medium-bodied, with much of the weight falling on the front of the palate. This tastes very natural, very ‘Heidi-in-the-springtime’, and manages a medium-length finish of some quality. Drink up over three years; but a good case for Austria being able to product a ripe, interesting, characterful red wine.
Flight 2 - Monday October 18, 2010 (15 notes)
Monday night wines with dinner were at the stewards’ house in Sydney’s Blue mountains. Wines were salvaged from the day’s tastings. Bottles were opened during the course of the day, 2 x 50ml tastings poured, then the bottles resealed, so all these wines have seen some air (though not a true decant) for a few hours.
Red - Sparkling
2010 Leura Park Shiraz 6 Rows
{cork, A$25} Wild strawberry and cranberry aromas. As flavours, they’re tamed by a little oak in the form of soft dusty tannins and quite fine, creamy-textured bubbles. Seemingly no detectable residual sugar here, making it a comparatively austere experience; in a way the bubbles seem almost redundant. Was very dry beside a bottle of Fox Creek’s Vixen fizz, that’s for sure…
Red - Sparkling
N.V. Fox Creek Vixen
{cork, 14%} A mix of shiraz and the two cabernet grapes. Big rich sweet strawberry nose. You’d call this off-dry I reckon, especially after a few mouthfuls. Sweet vanilla and raspberry are carried along by quite fine bubbles, but it still finishes rather sweet and short.
White
2010 Di Lusso Vermentino
{screwcap, 12.5%} Youthful aromas of succulent apricots and a dash of grapefruit. The generally low-acid palate is soft and rather nebulous, with generic white flower fruits in a light-medium bodied frame.Wavers between subtle and bland at this age…
White
2010 Elephant Hill Viognier Te Awanga Vineyard
{screwcap, 14%} Yellow-green. Spicy, rather gewurz-like aromas. Some apricotty flavours, yes, but with spicy, cinnamon zip to them. Faintly chalky texture to the wine, but it stops short of being tannic in any way. Medium-bodied and quite intense in its flavours, it successfully avoids heat on the finish too. Never tasted a viognier quite this young – I was quite impressed with this.
White
2004 Morton Estate Chardonnay Coniglio
{cork, 14.5%} Distinct golden colour. A developing, almost aged nose of cheese and butter with a transient greenish whiff. Aged but nicely balanced on the palate; generally lighter-bodied, with soft acid (a bit too soft, really). The buttery, leesy flavours are pleasant enough, with a garnish of oak, but it sits a bit on the front palate and finishes rather short. Drink up.
White
2008 De Bortoli Chardonnay Reserve
{screwcap, 12%} Youthful, but all very lees/yeast dominated with associated aromas. There’s a touch of grapefruit, stoney fruits and some subtle and classy oak. Smells very polished indeed. On the palate there’s a rich depth of chardonnay fruit, consistent in flavour with the aromatics. It’s medium bodied, moderately intense, rather linear in its march down the palate. A certain limpid freshness to the texture might reflect the very old-fashioned alcohol level; this is a subtle, finely-judged wine that needs a few years to come together. Quality stuff.
Red
2007 Lamont Pinot Noir
{screwcap, 13.5%} Solid garnet. A youthful, plush nose of cherry/chocolate and strawberries. The palate has an unexpectedly briary, stalky, weedy tobacco note to it. It’s a wonderfully entertaining palate with a spine of tingly acid adding freshness, a generally-medium bodied weight, and some velvetiness to its texture. Well-scaled and balanced – none of the components are out of balance, yet it seems too open and friendly to age for terribly long. A party wine for the next 5 years.
Red
2008 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir
{screwcap, 14%} Youthful, but a bit earthy, with wet leaves lying among the strawberries. Pretty much purely fruit on the nose. This is ripe and clean on the palate, but with a dark-hued aspect to the fruit flavours that follow on from the aromas. There are medium dusty tannins, just a leafy touch as well, and a long tight finish that seems to grow in weight – encouraging. It couldn’t be anything but pinot although it needs at least another three years to loosen up a bit. Ought to be excellent at peak.
Red
2009 Mt Beautiful Pinot Noir
{screwcap, 14%} Garnet, not dark. Youthfully seductive velvety strawberry aromas. Bright and clean on the palate; all medium-scaled; weight, acid, dusty tannins, finish. Nicely balanced along the palate; the flavours don’t just build up in one spot. Strawberry fruits, lick of oak, loose tannins. A cheerful wine that nearly has it all except for a certain simplicity of flavour which disappoints a little. Needs slightly older vines, perhaps? One to watch, though.
Red
2009 Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir Reserve
{screwcap} The grand-daddy of Otago, if not in quality, then certainly in price. A pre-release bottle, wearing a laboratory label. Big meaty nose, with deep ripe aromas of dark cherries and cured meats. Dense wine. Luscious black fruits, medium-full bodied without becoming a caricature of pinot, with medium powdery tannins, spicy french oak. Long finish that covers all the palate with flavour; although it’s a bit arms and legs now there’s no doubt all the materials are here. Needs at least 5 years to come together, then watch it fly.
Red
2009 Gemtree Vineyards Shiraz Bloodstone
{screwcap, 14%} Youthful. Plummy, jammy, almost confected fruits on the nose. Surely there’s viognier here, given the sweet apricot-like fruit that emerges on the palate. Rather velvety-textured, helped by chalky tannins, and medium-bodied, but then fades to a short, rather simple finish. Promises much but doesn’t really deliver.
Red
2008 Les Jamelles Syrah Vin de Pays d'Oc
{screwcap, 13%} Mildly spicy, ripe but low intensity nose. This is a dry, grittily tannic wine, medium bodied in weight, which piles its straightforward red berry fruit up at the tip of the tongue and fades along the palate after that. The palate is a little more generous in flavour than the nose suggested, but the finish is still obstinately short. A quaffer.
Red
2008 Mount Pleasant Wines Shiraz Philip
{screwcap, 14%} You’ve got to look hard to realise that there’s no Hunter fruit in this, it being all destroyed by the vintage rain. Doubtless the marketing strategy says ‘there must be a Philip’ and so the country is combed for suitable shiraz, and the usual ‘Hunter Valley’ is quietly dropped from the front label for this vintage. Oh wine, thou art a brand and not a place. Hence, mulberry and black fruits. Some charry oak flavours, although it’s not especially tannic. Medium-bodied in weight, helped along by the heat of the alcohol, but a short finish, mostly on the front of the palate. A bit crude all round; and not a typical Philip in flavour in any case.
Red
2006 Château Pey La Tour Réserve du Château
{cork, 13.5%} Developing low-intensity nose of dust and old salty oak. Not much here. The palate is dry, dusty and only vaguely fruity in an anonymous red berry way. It’s all about tannin, but even that can’t make a balanced finish by itself. A short, flat and rather uninteresting finish. This lacks depth and fruit. Pass.
Red
2004 Irvine Grand Merlot
{cork, 14%} Garnet. A developing but vast nose of stewed confected fruits. Sweet jam. Is this wine or compote? I’m sure that technically the palate is dry in the residual sugar sense, but the voluptuous jammy raspberry/candy fruits would have you believe otherwise. 22 months in cinnamon-like french oak has added to the party. Medium-full bodied, with only medium tannins (the oak has added flavour, not so much texture) and a rather lumpy dollop of fruity richness right in the middle of the palate; it’s a polarising wine, a subset of the fruit-bomb category, and really hard to make aging predictions about. Doesn’t finish too hot thankfully; at best may come around to an exotic spicy concoction with some more aging. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Flight 3 - Tuesday October 19, 2010 (14 notes)
Second pouring day, as the judges get through another 1000 wines in pairs. The Vasse Felix wine below was tasted at lunch, the remainder accompanied our second dinner at Chez Pines, with a repeat of the wine procurement strategy of the day before used to yield the following offerings:
Red
2008 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon
{screwcap, 14.5%} Ruby red. Solid cabernet nose of cassis, violets, dark cherry/chocolate and french oak. The palate is quite powerful but proportioned. Medium powdery tannins support a trace of herbs, but this faintly twiggy note doesn’t overwhelm the violet/cassis flavours. Medium-bodied with a medium-length finish, his is quite drinkable now although ought to mellow out nicely for 5-10 more years.
White
2010 Johanneshof Gewürztraminer
{diam, 13.5%} Youthful nose of turkish delight, roses and pot-pourri. Right on the varietal money. The palate is beyond off-dry I reckon, with sweet rose/perfume flavours and musk. Acid is soft, although the wine avoids any kind of phenolic heaviness. Moderately intense in its light-medium-bodied flavours, it just disappoints on the finish, which fades away quickly, with very little presence beyond the mid-palate. Avoids a lot of the traps of weak gewurz, but somehow just doesn’t quite hit the target for me.
White
2010 Waipara Hills Riesling Equinox
{screwcap, 12.5%} Youthful, chalky-smelling aromas. Aiming for some minerality, but the palate just settles for sweet grapey fruits with a musky accent and some flowery spices. Off-dry and light-bodied, but let down by insufficient acid and a short finish.
White
2005 Peter Lehmann Riesling Wigan
{screwcap, 11.5%} Still yellow-green, although a tiny bit darker than a new wine. Quite intense developing aromas of citric limes with a touch of kerosene. To the lime fruits on the palate are added a mineral chalkiness. It’s still tight and powerful, with lots of acid if you look for it, but avoids sharpness. The palate is long and linear, with a medium-long crisp and crunchy finish. A statuesque and impressive dry riesling which ought to age another ten years without hesitation, improving all the while. Top effort.
White
2008 Philip Shaw Chardonnay No. 11
{screwcap, 13%} Youthful cashew, stonefruit, grapefruit, oak and yeast lees aromas. Grand stuff. A fresh lively palate, with a frisson of acid keeping it tingling. There are nut and driewd herb flavours, along with subtle yeast influences. A classy wine that’s not too obviously cool-climate; it has the generousity of fruit flavours to avoid extremes. Dry, medium-bodied, with a medium-long finish and some soft chalky tannins, it ought to happily age for another 5 years at least.
Red
2007 Cien y Pico Manchuela Knights-Errant
{screwcap, 14%} Deep ruby. Youthful black fruit, liquorice & dark chocolate aromas. Dry, with medium gritty tannins, this full-bodied offering presents dark briary fruits with black cherries and raisins. Somewhat coarse and rustic, it combines its loose-knit fruits with a medium-length warm finish to make a decent drink-now modern-style wine from old Spain.
Red
2008 Bottega Vinai Merlot
{cork, 13%} Youthful, restrained dry cherry aromas. Initially rather dry, dusty and unfriendly, eventually some plummy fruits emerge with some time in the glass. But it’s still a pretty austere effort, with medium-high chalky tannins, medium acid and a medium-length finish which, although it sits in the middle of the palate, seems to lack much generousity. It’s not an unripe wine but manages to be rather sullen all the same. Made for pasta, presumably.
Red
2005 Da Vinci Brunello di Montalcino
{cork, 13%} Definite garnet, and no darker. A developing nose comprises leathery fruits, aged strawberries and a curranty note. The palate is medium-full bodied, with savoury dark cherry flavours, medium dusty tannins and some real depth to the leathery fruits. It has a medium-length finish, coats most of the palate with its well-balanced fruit, although does seem rather developed for a relatively young wine. Give it another 5 years, but I wouldn’t expect much improvement from here.
Red
2005 Château Belgrave
{cork, 13%} Ruby red. Developing aromas of curranty fruits. Big, rich, and very fruity. Something of a lactic quality to the texture, ripe fruit flavours and soft chalky tannins. It’s quite medium-sized generally, but doesn’t really have great depth or excitement. Still a bit young to be at peak, it’s a perfectly acceptabel drink just lacking some wow factor.
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Red
2005 Jacob's Creek Johann
{screwcap} Pre-release? Decanted for an hour beforehand. Vanilla and coconut dominates the nose to the exclusion of all else. The palate does reveal some spiced raisiny fruit, but it’s still dominated by (presumably oak-derived) coconut flavours. Clunky acid, full chalky tannins and a very warm finish add up to a full-bodied wine of great intensity. But the finish is shorter than it should be, and rather baked as well; at five years surely this should be showing some integration and not just a wild assault of too-much-everything. One for the oak fans but perhaps not for me.
Red
2008 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon Abercrombie
{screwcap, 14%} Garnet. Youthful aromas; primal & tight. Currants and blackberry fruit. Subtle oak. But it’s reserved and a bit brooding. There are rich briary fruits on the palate, a touch of herb, but still ripe & powerful. Fine-grained powdery tannins build on the palate, which covers all the tongue from front to back with finely-judged flavours. Medium-full bodied, with medium acidity and a long, somewhat closed finish, this is a quality effort that should reward 10 cellars in a cool cellar. It’s drinkable now, but only really revealing a fraction of its potential.
Red
2007 Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
{screwcap, 14.2%} Garnet red. Youthful nose, absolutely shrieking of old-style Margaret River herbaceous/asparagus notes. This is rather extreme, with green olive aromas carrying through to the palate, before finally revealing some undertones of curranty fruit. It’s intense medium/full bodied, with medium chalky tannins and quality french oak; and although the finish is medium/long I can’t help but feel that this rather dark green fruit note will remain with the wine forever. Not for me.
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Red
2006 Grant Burge Shiraz Meshach
{cork, 14.5%} Decanted at the start of dinner. Ruby red. A big but developing nose of tobacco, brambly fruits, spice and white pepper. Dry palate, with huge chalky tannins, full-bodied, and combining chocolate/violet flavours with coal and exotic spices. There’s a lot here to like if you don’t mind the wild side a bit. Intense, with a medium-long finish and plenty of weight along the length of the palate, the fruit isn’t too baked, nor is the wine too hot. Attractive wine which needs another 5 years to settle a bit more; I’m not sure it has the purity to age long term, but I won’t be dogmatic about it.
Red
2007 M. Chapoutier Rasteau
{cork, 14.5%} Youthful, jubey-fruited wine. There’s a dash of jam and sandalwood among the aromas. Not bad. The palate is of somewhat polished grenache; loose-knit jammy/raspberry flavours wear little oak influence, if any; it’s all grape-skin and pulpy texture. Soft powdery tannins and a light-medium body add up to a slightly simple wine that should be an undemanding drink for a few more years.
Flight 4 - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 (19 notes)
The first three wines below were scavenged for lunch. With judges now tasting wine accompanied by food in groups of six, there were much smaller pickings available for the stewards; and most bottles were at or below half full, which won’t do the dozen of us. So, apart from a few rogue bottles (listed nos. 4-7 below), this evening is devoted to the Stewards Options dinner starting with the easily identified Moscato.
White - Sparkling
1999 Lanson Champagne Gold Label Brut
Rich developing nose of cheese and yeast. Very classy stuff. Delicately creamy fine bubbles, lovely developing champagne flavours; medium weight, intense, fresh. Spiny acids promise a long life. Super wine.
White
2009 Dopff au Moulin Pinot Gris Reserve
{screwcap, 13%} Youthful spiced pear and flower blossom aromas. Off-dry, medium-bodied, with even some dusty tannins/phenolics (was served warmer than ideal), but just seems to lack the acid to spark it properly into life. The pear & nougat flavours are pleasant; it’s OK but not memorable. Get the temperature right, I guess. (No 'Tokay' for the record, just pinot gris.)
Red
2008 Capel Vale Cabernet Sauvignon Regional Series Margaret River
{screwcap, 13.5%} Opened the day prior. Intense, youthful nose of spice and white pepper. Medium gritty tannins, medium weight. Fresh, bright, and somewhat simple palate of bright red berries, pepper and a little oak. Tastes more shiraz than cabernet. Short-medium finish. Acceptable but no more.
White
2010 Arlewood
{screwcap, 14%} Marsanne & Roussanne, for the record. It’s yellow-green in colour, and has subdued youthful aromas of honeysuckle and discreet peaches. The light-medium weight dry palate has a dash of fuzzy melon flavours, just a little acid, but overall seems rather bland and uninteresting. Can’t raise much enthusisam here; perhaps a couple of years will see a blossoming, if there’s enough acid to avoid flabbiness.
White
2010 Forrest Estate Riesling The Doctors'
{screwcap, 8.5%} A very transparent effort, this. It shows very little on the nose but for a few elusive green apple notes. The palate is very soft; off-dry with a little sweet apple and honeydew flavour, but insufficient acid to keep it from lying somewhat limply on the palate. Kabinett-wannabe’s should have a bit more zing than this.
Rosé
2010 Invivo Pinot Noir Sophie's
{screwcap, 13%} You read in the popular press from time to time shoddily-reported stories about so-called wine experts being unable to distinguish between red and white wines with their eyes closed, or confused by the use of coloured dyes. This says pinot noir on the bottle, and appears pale-crimson, but smells of sauvignon blanc. Pure and simple. It’s most disconcerting. I discovered from a judge the following night that indeed, it did have some sauvignon in it. Well, it’s all you can smell, that’s for sure. The palate has a little strawberry, but the passionfruit comes charging through anyway. It certainly doesn’t taste pink. A touch of sugar in the finish. Short finish. Weird.
Red
2008 Church Road Syrah Reserve Hawke's Bay
{cork, 13%} Garnet. Big spicy nose; meat, vanilla, red fruit. Ripe but not cooked. Dry, medium-bodied palate; rustic flavours of spices and raspberries, subtle french oak. It’s a little coarse on the finish, open and loose-knit, with chalky tannins; an honest sort of wine which despite a decent weight of ripe fruit on the mid-palate can’t quite muster up the length of finish that you’d hope to find. A decent effort, but best drunk sooner rather than later.
White - Sparkling
2008 Beni di Batasiolo Moscato d'Asti Bosc dla Rei
{cork, 5.5%} [Emilie] Classic moscato. Not much more to say. Well-balanced grapey flavours, crisp acid. Slam it down.
White
2009 Gran Sasso Pinot Grigio
{synthetic, 13%} [Trish] Youthful nose of anonymous white fruits, with that touch of sewing-machine-oil that seems to go with Italian whites. Crisp enough palate, with some greywashed flavours. Clean, ripe, but not thick or hot. Light-medium body; dry, but a bit short on the finish. Shows better with food.
White
2004 Mount Mary Chardonnay
{cork, 13.5%} [Erik] Lemon-gold. Mostly youthful aromas of light butterscotch and lightly cedary oak. Actually, there was a bit more to it than that. The palate is still tightly wound, with stone fruit aromas keeping the oak in the background. Lively acidity carries the flavours well (no malolactic ferment here, as is the Mount Mary way). Medium-bodied, with just a touch of tannic grip, and a medium-long finish that coats the length of the palate. Classy wine. Another 4-5 years will be no trouble at all and should see further development.
Red
2006 Cristom Pinot Noir Sommers Reserve
{cork, 14.5%} [Michael] Youthful. Fresh bright cherries; fruit not stalk. Subtle dark oak. Very authentically pinot. The palate is light-medium bodied, with a little structural stalkiness emerging here among the ripe quite bright pinot fruit. Soft chalky tannins are in balance with the scale of the wine, the alcohol doesn’t stick out or exude heat. Good coverage of the whole palate and a medium-bodied finish all add up to a well-scaled wine that ought to sail through another 5 years and be better for it.
Red
1996 La Pousse d'Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d'Or
{cork, 13%} [Graeme] Brick red with flashes of near-mahogany colour. Aged nose of dirt and forest-floor. Rather like it was made between the sewage plant and the abbatoir. Flashes of old berry fruit that were concievably sweet pinot at one time.The palate is starting to become a bit unbalanced now; somewhat dessicated and astringent, it’s clearly beginning to dry out. Only really light-medium bodied, but seems stronger-flavoured as the structural components stick out more. Certainly food helps, but it’s more about earth than fruit now, and seems to be beyond development and into fading. An even sort of palate coverage helps, and there’s a medium length finish, but it’s certainly short of charm. In its defence, provenance may have been an issue (I acquired it in ’03), but in any case I think it’s not a wine for keeping any longer.
Red
2004 Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa First Growth
{cork, 14.5%} [Cathy] Decanted for about two hours prior. Still youthful-smelling, with dark menthol and cassis aromas. Something of a blockbuster on the palate; lashings of grittily tannic oak, slathers of ripe cassis fruits – a sort of youthful, brooding monster of a wine. Full-bodied and ripe, but not baked or raisiny; this has stayed just the right side of turning into a caricature. There’s weight on the mid-palate too, and a long, tight and tannic finish. Ten years in the cellar should see this emerge in triumph.
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Red
1999 Seppelt Cabernet Sauvignon Drumborg Vineyard
{cork, 12%} [Tom] Decanted for two hours prior. Richly cedary nose of developing cigar-box aromas. Positively slathered in oak, but it’s now all spicy and luxurious. Plushy voluptuous palate of cassis, chocolate, and cinnamon. Full-bodied and intense, although there’s a touch of herb about the fruit which stops it descending into a chocolate-milkshake-like mess. Richly upholstered wine of chalky tannins, full developing fruits on the palate and a medium length finish. Despite the rather extreme style (these 90s-era Seppelt reds with the silly hologram-in-navy labels were pretty damn oaky) the wine works, possibly because the alcohol isn’t out of control, which maintains some balance. Eventually I think the tannins may outlast the fruit, but for the next 5-10 years it should to be OK. Very nice effort within its style.
Red
2006 Pertaringa Merlot Stage Left
{screwcap, 15%} [Peter] You rarely see the ‘super-zone’ of Adelaide on a label; I’m assured it’s a McLaren Vale wine (but maybe not 85%-worth in accordance with the labelling law?) Anyway, here’s a lavishly raspberry-fruited, vanilla-oaked nose, very ripe and developing but not quite raisined nose. Palate of vanilla & coconut follows; medium/high chalky tannins drive the blueberry fruits onto a softer mid-palate. Tastes somewhat older than I expect? Seems to be hiding its alcohol behind the oak, and finishes medium-length. I dunno. Think this could turn into some kind of monstrosity with too much time. I’d drink up – this is losing freshness already.
Red
2006 Buller Mondeuse Valerie
{screwcap, 16%} [Warwick] And now the real monsters come out of the woodwork. Made to win a bet, surely. From 60-year-old vines. Decanted just prior to serving. Ruby/black colour. Youthful but hot, baked, flat nose. A porty, raisiny affair on the palate. Full-bodied (surprise!) with lots of dusty tannins. Astringent, baked, stewed black fruits sit heavily on the palate. The sheer weight of alcohol gives it a finish of sorts, but it’s an extreme style that is really too much except for diehard fans. Drink now or not at all.
Red
2005 Lilliput Wines Shiraz Gullifers
{screwcap, 14%} [Wayne] A half hour decant prior to tasting. Youthful nose of tobacco, twigs, herbs and leaves. And some some complex red fruit notes too. Medium-bodied, with medium chalky tannins. Seems to be a well-balanced palate, with flavours extending the length of the tongue, but as the wine sits in the mouth the flavours turn rustic and porty, eventually becoming rather hollow. I wonder if there’s a mix of over- and under-ripe fruit here? The length of finish isn’t too bad, ti’s just that it’s not particularly harmonious. Which at five years old isn’t really a great sign.
Red
1991 Baileys of Glenrowan Shiraz
flawed
{cork, 13%} [Wayne] Labelled 'Hermitage' in the spirit of the times. Decanted for 30 minutes which seems to have killed this stone dead. Seriously decaying, part oxidised, part fungal. Harsh and astringent on the palate, lacking fruit, development or interest whatsoever. Suspect an unrepresentative bottle, as I’ve had 20-year-old Bailys before which was perfectly acceptable.
Red
2002 Dalwhinnie Pinot Noir
{cork, 13.5%} [Graeme] A spare wine which we opened. Slightly fading garnet. Sweetly developing strawberry fruits on the nose with the tiniest touch of grape stalk, and a distinct nod to meaty, delicatessen aromas. Dry, and light/medium-bodied, it’s ripe, displays a touch of oak tannin, but mostly conveys an impression translucent lightness. The palate is well-coated, and has a finish of medium length but it seems to lack sufficient presence and remains rather shallow somehow. Not a bad wine by any means, and at eight years is aging acceptably, but I can understand why Dalwhinnie have pulled out their pinot vines in the last few years.
Flight 5 - Thursday October 21, 2010 (3 notes)
Thursday was the final full judging day. Just the one lunch wine was tried, and I took notes only on the two still wines at the Meet-the-Judges group dinner at Ming’s, Penrith, where our group of thirty-odd included no less than 5 MWs.
Red
2005 Orlando Cabernet Sauvignon Jacaranda Ridge
{cork, 14%} Ruby red. Oddly developing aromas of cedar, tobacco and cassis. One step away off primary-smelling, and not exactly vibrant. Dry medium-bodied wine, with cedar, cassis and herb flavours accompanied by a porty sensation and a strangely hollow feel to the texture. Medium dusty tannins; it’s not over-oaked, and remains a little lean on the back-palate. Not a bad wine, but the medium-length finish seems to lack freshness without the subtlties of age. Poor value at retail (>$A75?).
White
2004 Eden Road Viognier Meeting Place
{screwcap, 13.5%} Not tasted a local viognier this old before. This one holds up surprisingly well. There’s some trademark apricottiness on the nose, but it’s not too pronounced. There’s a patina of burnished fainly smoky age overlaying it which doesn’t smoother some remaining freshness. The palate’s a little weaker, with fleshy white/orange fruit flavouers just held up by a lick of acid (this and the alcohol says it was very well balanced to start with) although it lacks much in the way of true complexity to be really memorable. In retrospect, was a good pointer of things to come from this variety in Canberra. Drink up.
Red
2003 Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir Roaring Meg
{screwcap, 13.5%} Fading garnet – certainly looks like an old pinot. Smells of tobacco, leafy compost, but as it evolves some sweet strawberry fruit sticks its head above the parapet. The wine’s dry, light/medium-bodied, with soft grapey tannins. The palate holds together initially, showing the barnyard-type flavours of aging new world pinot, but then as the night wears on it slowly begins to collapse. An OK effort for what is, after all, a second wine, but there’s certainly no need to keep it longer.
Flight 6 - Friday October 22, 2010 (6 notes)
And to the final day. Just a few dregs of wines from the morning's judges’ tasting which were shared over the post-clean-up lunch, so they’d all seen plenty of air over the past 5 hours.
Red
2008 Vasse Felix Heytesbury
{screwcap, 14.5%} Youthful. Darkly assertive pure cabernet nose. Violets, currants, black fruits, with minimal herbal notes. A medium-full-bodied palate follows, with moderate dusty tannins carrying powerful, ripe, but not over-cooked fruit. Pure quality cassis, even coverage of the tongue, and a balanced medium length finish. All class; drinkable now but with far more to offer in ten years. One to keep.
Red
2005 Peter Lehmann Shiraz Eight Songs
{screwcap, 14.5%} A developing, almost subtle nose of violets and spice, but with an odd chemical note in there somewhere. Hmmm. It’s a loose-knit shiraz on the palate, with quite soft tannins, medium-bodied intensity, subtle oak and briary, spicy flavours before a medium-length finish. Not big or over the top (or hot, either) but somehow just feels as though it’s only going to deteriorate, not improve from here. Drink within 3 years for best results, I reckon.
Red
2005 Peter Lehmann Mentor Cabernet
{cork, 14%} Developing, but green-edged and herbal. Goodness me. The palate seems a mix of over and under-ripe fruit, but the olive/green flavours are getting the upper hand. Soft powdery tannins, and it’s just medium-bodied, but there’s little front-palate to speak of; given the greenness of the wine perhaps the rather short finish is an advantage… Not recommended.
Red
2007 Kilikanoon Shiraz Oracle
{screwcap, 14.5%} A youthful ruby colour. Powerful, intense nose of cool inky/menthol aromas. Very Clare Valley. The palate is of liqueured blueberry fruits, soy, raisins and a passing nod to your average port. Although it’s full-bodied, with medium dusty tannins, and a great wave of fruit which initially swamps the mid-palate, in the end it only just manages a medium-length finish, and that is tinged with heat. It’s young, I haven’t a lot of experience with this winery, so no final verdict. But ‘no buy’ from me, either.
Red
2006 Mitchelton Shiraz Print
{14.5%} Garnet. Developing aromas of blackberries and strawberries, all offered on a bed of iron-like minerals. Firmly medium-bodied and that’s all, this remains rather closed on the palate with vaguely developing flavours of chocolate and blackberry, more notable for their persistence than size. Now that’s good. Medium-length finish which covers most of the tongue but emphasises the mid-palate, this just needs a few years to develop some extra dimensions. A label that sails somewhat under the radar but often surprises with some cellar time.
Red
2006 Yalumba The Signature
Ruby red. Gosh this does smell old-fashioned; all american oak, chocolate and vanilla. Rich, blue-fruited shiraz flavours dominate the palate; the cabernet isn’t especially noticeable in this context. It’s a powerful wine, with lots of chalky tannins; history says the fruit will get there in the end but for the time being it’s one to ignore unless you’re desperate for a vanilla milkshake.
Closing
A hard working week. Trophy winners and Top 100 wines are announced at a dinner on Feb 25, 2011 (which I can’t attend.) But there is a public tasting of the Top 100 in April 2011 which will try and get along to.