4/28/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Medium red. Some deposit. Nose of red cherries, herbs, amphora lift and complexity. Lavender. Wonderful and most unusual.
Palate is sweet red cherries, lighter style, quite acid but not overly so. Would it have been better drunk young? The pundits thought so.
I’m going to keep my last bottle for some time to see what it does. I’m quite curious about it. Beautifully pure and clean for a complex, long winemaking process - 180 days on skins in beeswax lined amphorae…

4/26/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Medium deposit. Light red. Lovely red fruits. Cranberry.
Light to medium weight. Nebb tannic structure, though balanced. Beginning to lose its youthful fruit.
Drink up.

4/25/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Slight deposit. Medium-deep red.
Dark plum aromas with mint. Pristine.
Fruit richness with the floral lift of Fleurie. Fruit has closed down somewhat, leaving the acid showing. Just a baby.
I will give the rest a decade. 110yo vines…

4/20/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Lifted raspberry aromas.Lifted aromatics.
Significant VA. Adds to the wine as a youngster but would likely become unpleasant with age.
Drink young.

4/22/2024 - richard.presser Does not like this wine:

Very broad nose, almost some nougat character.
Ditto palate. It is falling apart in quite a strange way. It’s like it’s totally lost its acid backbone.
A lesson for me in this. Condrieu can live for decades, the best of them. Even Yarra Valley ones that are quite well made may well need to be drunk young.

4/22/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Deep magenta.
Intense, rich, ripe. Dark plum.
Ripe, intense fruit, though lacks the structure that comes with the old vines of the Barossa. These vines are not the oldies. 14.7 alc.shows...

4/20/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Tasted at the Prince Wine Store Cotes du Rhone and beyond tasting, April 20, 2024.
From the owners of the renowned Chateau de Beaucastel this is a blend of 40% Grenache, 40% Mourvedre and 20% Syrah matured in a mix of oak barrels and stainless steel vats for a period of 12 months.
For me, this was the standout in a lineup of about 30 wines. A lovely well fruited, approachable wine. Not a keeper but wonderful QPR for the short term.

4/19/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Developed complexity. Lifted ketones. Too much?
Peak? Certainly this bottle. Disappointing bottle, IMO.

4/13/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Good weighted Soave. Pleasant drinking. Now- 2028

4/13/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Lovely weighted flavoursome Chardonnay. Shows the great vintage. Good for their entry level.

4/12/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Deep purple. Not decanted.
Nose of cassis and black currant.
Rich, sweet Shiraz. A little short and one dimensional. Ripe and powerful but a long way short of the great Barossa Shiraz available from this vintage.
Disappointing. Let's see what 24 hours does for it.
Next day. Shows a little better balance but still short.

4/11/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Pale. Little to no colour devt. As yet.
Aromas of apple and pear, beginning to show traces of bottle devt.
Palate is richer and more complex, though still very young. Very fine and long. Another 5-8 years will serve it well. It speaks well for the vintage.

4/8/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Deep purple. Sweet, perfumed, dark fruited Shiraz.
Black fruited, ripe and sweet. Blackberries and black cherries. Excellent balance. Needs a decade.

4/8/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Intense purple. Intense blackberry Shiraz aromas, with breathing showed the Viognier lift.
Intense black fruits. Balanced but very powerful. Acid stood out early but settled. Lacks the wonderful 2021 Barossa flavours but still very good. Needs 10 years.

4/6/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Youthful, sweet pinot nose.
Ditto palate. Medium to light weight, very quaffable young pinot. Went well with lunch.
IMO, not a keeper. 13.8 - surprising. Speaks well of the vintage in the YV.

4/6/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Nose expressing from the moment of opening, even at 12C. Tobacco-like aromas, which were complemented by red fruits as it breathed and warmed. Just entering its drinking window.
Medium weight complex red/blue fruits, the early tannin dominance receded as it opened. Lovely balance with Nt St G restraint. A classic Chevillon. Chevillon is like it’s found its own commune. A touch of Vosne without the austerity of N St G. They’re always like this, IMO. Very enjoyable.

3/31/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Minor sediment. Medium colour. Sweet red fruits in a tight acid frame.
Sweet red fruits, high acid, shortish. The fruit is for now, the acid not so. Unbalanced. I will leave the other bottle to see what it does. Less enthused than on the first tasting in a dinner setting. OK for the price.

3/28/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Tasted at Torbreck dinner. Good richness and aged complexity. This listing shows it as being Muscat, but that's not my recall. Let's see when it shows up...
From their website - The Bothie is a fortified blend of traditional grape varieties which have been used to make this style of wine in the Barossa for generations. Including Madeira Semillon, Frontignac, Palomino, Doradillo, Grenache and Shiraz, these varieties have a rich, and sometimes forgotten history of fortified winemaking in the Barossa.

Current Vintage
NV
When the vintage allows, the grapes are picked at optimum ripeness. A small amount of spirit is then added to the fermenting wine to arrest the yeast activity and raise the alcohol level. The resulting barrels are then allowed to mature over a number of years to develop a rich tawny colour and deep, concentrated flavours, until ready to be added to the Bothie blend.

Nope... Not Muscat...

3/28/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Simple, sweet, youthful. A gift from the Torbreck dinner - March 20, 2024.

3/28/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Rich, fine, displays the elegance and complexity of the Viognier skins. Great length, richness and power. Again, shows the intensity and complexity of 2021.

3/28/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Intense blackberry flavours. Needs 15 years. Great intensity and inkiness to the 2021 wines. Rich and ageworthy.

3/28/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Deep purple. Young, simple shiraz on opening. Fruit emerges with air.

3/29/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

A Sem/sauv Blanc blend that speaks of the Bx version with an Aussie balance. Very fine. Aspects are forward, making it drinkable now but IMO, it will begin to sing at about 10 years. The biodynamic vitality is evident.

3/26/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

A wonderful Soave. Balanced, good weight, minerality.
Handles a spicy prawn dish with ease. At 20 Aussie, it’s a steal.

3/25/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Coarse deposit. Medium weight, quite high acid. Disappointing for the vintage and for VV.

3/24/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Rough decant. Deep red/purple.
Light black cherry, opening up with air.
Palate was very acid on first tasting. Complex blackberry and mulberry fruits emerge with breathing though the acid is still high. I expect will be up there with the other Teusner wines I have from 2021 with 10 years under its belt.
Better balanced after 8 hours.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Understated complex dessert wine. Elegant. An enjoyable curio.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Forward, good weight and richness, medium length. Good drinking over the next 5 years.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Pretty neb. Light weight, aromatic. Much, much more open and expressive than my last tasting.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Complex, powerful, youthful.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Lovely weighted richness. Good length. Already drinking well but will do so for a decade or more.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Medium weight, complex, balanced.

3/22/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Rough decant. Opened for lunch, comments 8 hours later.
Red cherry, cranberry, violets. Sweet aromas.
Red fruit backbone has emerged - blend of red cherry, plum and more. On opening showed austerity that has breathed open. A slight extractive tannin edge that I don't like. It may resolve this. Tempted but I won't cellar it.

3/18/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

I was shocked by this wine.
Deep purple, almost black in colour.
The wine smells and tastes like it just came out of the fermenter!!! Chock full of fresh Shiraz fruit aromas and flavours. Blackberry and dark plum. It has a solid whack of French oak, but the wine takes it in its stride. Halliday (or his delegate) has voted it 99. Could be. It's so unusual that I find it hard to predict its path. I have never seen a 3yo wine show such baby fat youthfulness. I figure it can't be a bad thing.
Next day shows a more developed flavour profile- still very youthful but reveals more of the true structure. A 6-pack is heading for my cellar. Will leave it until 2031. I recommend grabbing some if you can.

3/17/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Elegant and balanced. Surprisingly drinkable. It will develop and intensify with age, notably given its 2019.
Day 3 - classic Barolo nose. Has opened up but could look better even in a week. Flavour the same. Much better balanced and poised. Wonderful Barolo. There will be far greater 2019s but this has all basics more than covered. Flagged for tasting in 2029.

3/17/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

An excellent entry-level chardonnay with great QPR. Better, straightforward value than its upmarket Sexton sibling I tasted alongside it. It will not make old bones but reflective of the great Chardy vintage in the Yarra. Drink to 2030.

3/15/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Aromatic, elegant. Complex, aromatic red fruits. It’s what Grenache off old, low yielding vines in warm climates and light soils delivers. Australia is beginning to understand. We have the vines. Southern Rhone and Spain have known for generations…

3/15/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Nicely structured and pure but nothing that encourages me to buy it. Lacks power and sparkle.

3/15/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Very fine and elegant, yet rich. Complex pear/apple aromas and flavours. Wonderful tension and good richness and complexity, albeit held tightly by the acid. Wonderful.

3/14/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Crumbling cork. Primarily coarse but also some fine deposit.
Red with broad browning edges.
Fully mature, tertiary aromas and flavours. Complex bacon fat and faded plum. Primary fruit has gone. Excellent length. Opened quite reserved but air saw it find its lungs. Bought the single bottle a year or so ago. I'm glad I did. I suspect it has been cellared well. If I had others, I would drink them over the next year or so, but good bottles may well be around in a decade. I am grateful to have been able to savour it.

3/11/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Light straw colour. Lifted, complex, honeyed aromas.
Lifted, complex, honeyed, honeydew melon flavours. Rich though a trace short. At its peak.

3/10/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Lime notes with bottle devt complexity. Ditto palate with Alsatian stony structure. Medium weight and length. Drinking beautifully and should comfortably hold this over the next 3+ years. Alsace IMO makes the most food worthy Rieslings.

3/8/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Brassy colour. Subtle complexity.
Richer than a typical Austrian Riesling. A pleasant drink, but certainly not worthy of the frothing praise of the pundits.
An interesting curio. Nothing more. And quite an expensive one.

3/8/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Rich, round Heathcote Shiraz with the softness of Sanguine. It was the oldest of those on tasting last Sunday and that bottle was fraying. This one is not but is not for keeping. The acid is not there to hold it. Drink my remaining bottle.

3/6/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Lifted perfume of black cherry. Quite aromatic for straight Shiraz. Ditto palate. This and others back to 2015 at a recent tasting showed, for me, surprising development for their age. Not in a bad way. This is an example. Lovely ripe Heathcote Shiraz that is in its drinking zone. It’s not going to challenge the Northern Rhone or even some other areas of Oz for longevity and complexity but really well made, medium term Heathcote Shiraz. Or even Ron Laughton’s greatest Jasper Hill wines from just down the road, when he was making them. Life could be a lot worse…

3/5/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Reflective of the cooler but wonderfully balanced vintage. It will benefit from a few years in the cellar.

3/5/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

A classic Progeny. My quaffing shiraz for several years. A little more restrained, currently, than the beautifully approachable 2021.
A few months in the cellar should see it wake up.

3/2/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Pleasant drinking. Needs a little more time.

3/2/2024 - richard.presser wrote:

Quite mature. Some jamminess. Drink up.

3/2/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

The best in a PWS lineup of Bourgognes yesterday. And the cheapest. Medium weight aromas with good complexity
Ditto palate. Medium length and surprising complexity for a Bourgogne. Drink now. A wonderful restaurant wine.
Reportedly the last vintage as Bouchard Pere is no longer buying fruit outside because the prices have got so high. A dramatic scaling back of their volumes.