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Bacchus Wine merchants trade tasting
Intercontinental hotel, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Tasted May 6, 2013 by chatters with 562 views
Introduction
Trade tasting by Bacchus Wine merchants (plus a couple of others) - I got there early and tucked in, shall we say, before the crowds arrived.
Flight 1 - Bracket 1 Chardonnay (8 notes)
Nom nom nom. I know I shouldn't but I do, and I think I always will, take massive pleasure from the ubiquitous ABC's nemesis
White
2012 Kilikanoon Chardonnay Organic
Peach, slight spice cream, tart citrus, lees time. Bit simple, well made and ends clean. A non-discernible quaffer.
White
2012 Kilikanoon Chardonnay
peach, stone fruit, oak notes, lemon over peach in the mouth, slight front of mouth grip that is slightly coarse
White
2011 Dexter Chardonnay
Oak over cream and citrus notes - lemon and almost orange in fact. In the mouth there is citrus, cream. The wine is medium plus bodied and a little warm from alcohol on the finish.
White
2010 Stella Bella Chardonnay
Peach, slight apricot, balance oak, floral notes. Lees, butter, peach, backbone and structure. Slight front of palate grip, long, balanced, elegant. Good
White
2011 Juniper Estate Chardonnay Juniper Crossing
Medium minus intensity aromas of floral over perfumed fruit, slight oak, slight residual sugar, mid palate grip. Bit simple, bit out of whack. Nah.
White
2010 Juniper Estate Chardonnay
Funky, bacon fat, oak over stone fruit. Slightly tart lemon in the mouth. Medium plus acid, oak, spice, massive mouthfeel for a chardonnay, prominent tannin - built to age. Kind of nice.
White
2010 Gérard Bertrand Chardonnay Aigle Noir
Gold coloured…medium minus intensity aromas of slight herbs, mineral, almost fennel and more of the same on the palate. Slightly bitter. Meh.
White
2010 Henri de Villamont Chardonnay Bourgogne Blanc Prestige
Ripe fruit - especially stone fruit accompany floral top notes. In the mouth peach and spice dominate before being replaced by slight front of mouth phenolic grip and acid come rolling in. A little short, a little simple but nice enough
Flight 2 - Bracket 2 Red Burgundy (11 notes)
Hmm, I find when I taste red Burgundy there is a lot of earth (no pun intended) and not much gold. But there is always a damn site more gold than I find when I taste NZ, Australian and Californian Pinot Noir.
Red
2009 Henri de Villamont Pinot Noir Bourgogne Prestige
Medium minus intensity aromas are spirituous, with candied fruit over spice and a touch of cork taint. Savoury red fruit, spice. Meh
Red
2008 Henri de Villamont Volnay
Slight farmyard funk and smoked bacon, red berry fruit - it's almost got an oxidative quality. Initial spritz on the palate, drying tannin, dark berry fruit, savoury, plenty of tannic weight. Not really what I expect from Volnay. Meh
Red
2007 Henri de Villamont Chambolle-Musigny
Earth, red berry fruit, slight oxidation. In the mouth there is medium plus acid, juicy fruit followed by big tannic grip throughout the mouth but both carry through on the longish finish. Okay
Red
2007 Henri de Villamont Pommard
Almost marmite/yeast extract initially then red berry fruit, sweet spice and earth, Dense, thick, savoury red fruit and spice in the mouth, plenty of structure and weight, the wine finishes a little bitter. It kind of works for me.
Red
2008 Henri de Villamont Nuits St. Georges
Medium minus intensity red berry fruit and quite subdued spice notes. In the mouth it is more concentrated, though still savoury and a bit out of whack. There is also something slightly 'off' in the chemical spectrum here. Nah.
Red
2010 Henri de Villamont Savigny-lès-Beaune Le Village
Primary fruit over spice, cream and perfumed top notes. In the mouth juicy red fruit dominates then there is slight tannic grip and spicy notes join the primary fruit on the long finish. Good.
Red
2010 Henri de Villamont Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Guettes
Medium plus aromas of concentrated red berry fruit, slightly smoky, spice and some almost cedary notes. In the mouth there is medium plus body and acidity, juicy strawberry fruit, some stalk notes - though not green, massive structure and not all from oak. Very good.
Red
2011 Nicolas Rossignol Bourgogne
Spice, muted red fruit, slightly smoked/burnt note. In the mouth there is slightly smoked red fruit, long finish that is bitter. Quite simple, well made but that burnt note is a little distracting.
Red
2011 Nicolas Rossignol Volnay
Cream, red fruit, slightly muted spice. In the mouth red berry fruit dominate and there is a slightly warm spread in the palate that lends weight to the wine. The tannin and the fruit are slightly out of balance at the moment. I'd suggest this needs a bit of time.
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Comment
Red
2010 Nicolas Rossignol Volnay 1er Cru Santenots
Slightly metallic notes, perfumed, red fruit. Spice, little warm, medium plus acid and big tannic grip dominate. On the palate this lacks fruit and is very structured. I would suspect it needs some more bottle age.
Red
2010 Louis Latour Marsannay
Earth, smoked bacon, funky red berry fruit. Jammy in the mouth but with medium plus acid but the wine finishes very short. Initially it's lovely but then, bang, it's done.
Flight 3 - Bracket 3 Yarra Yering (4 notes)
Missing my favourites - the Chardonnay and the No.3 but I thought I'd have a go at there Pinot and Cab blends.
Red
2011 Yarra Yering Pinot Noir
Jammy mixed red berry compote, slightly dusty notes. In the mouth there is cream to cover the compote and a little tannic grip. Nah.
Red
2008 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1
Combination of jammy red tending to black fruit that has notes of plums and an underpinning of a herbaceous, mint quality. In the mouth there are medium plus tannins and the jammy fruit dominates. Meh
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Comment
Red
2005 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1
Herbaceous notes are more to the fore here, with hints of eucalypt, mint and almost straying to medicinal herbs. There is also some cedar and spice and some blackcurrant fruit. In the mouth there is medium plus tannin and the fruit and herbaceous notes are more in harmony and balanced. coming along nicely. good.
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Comment
Red
2007 Yarra Yering Agincourt
Jammy black fruit, cream, nutmeg and clove. In the mouth more of the same - jammy fruit over spice.
Flight 4 - Bracket 4 Stella Bella/suckfizzle reds (3 notes)
Red
2009 Stella Bella Cabernet Merlot
Herbaceous notes over slightly jammy blackcurrant conserve and some cedar notes and a slightly burnt/charred quality. In the mouth there is the herbaceousness, a cassis quality, very slight salt spray, medium plus body and tannin. Good. It's the first wine I've had for a while that sits between the stools of simple and complex as well as handling ripe and more green fruit well.
Red
2008 Stella Bella Cabernet Sauvignon Suckfizzle
Herbaceous - mint especially - brambles, notes of soy and aniseed. In the mouth it is again, herbaceous, brambles, black currant tending to dark red fruit, slight aniseed. Medium plus grippy, firm tannins. Long. Very long. Lovely. Quite young.
Red
2009 Stella Bella Cabernet Sauvignon Serie Luminosa
This tastes like a mid point between the (Stella Bella cab sav 09 and the suckfizzle cab sav 08). Herbaceous notes are, again, right up there with the fruit but this time joined by creamy notes. The fruit is quite ripe and, in the mouth, this comes across as a slightly off dry quality. medium plus finish that carries cream and black fruit. It's good but probably not what I'd go for.
Closing
Good tasting, lovely to try all those Henri de Villamont entry level wines...not that I necessarily thought they tasted lovely though. I could have happily stayed tasting for another hour or two but the office beckoned...