2002 Tahbilk Marsanne
Community Tasting Note
SAND Likes this wine:
Sunday, March 1, 2020 - APPEARANCE: Deep to medium deep golden colour. No sediments. Driven cork.
NOSE: Initially; lots of waxy notes, some fresh butter and a hint of flint smoke. Then yellow cherries and yellow plums appear. With time and air come white peach, pear and red apple as well as hints of almond and marzipan. (89-90p)
TASTE: A slightly matured but vital and fresh fruitiness, with yellow cherries and yellow plums in spades. Slightly underripe mango. Medium to medium rich body. A little, mild fruit stone bitterness on the mid palate (alongside the fruitiness) and in the exit and the rather long aftertaste. (89p)
OVERALL: Pure drinking pleasure. TOTAL SCORE 89 points.
Appears to be on the younger side of mid age (served blind I think I would have guessed 8-10 years rather than 18), with an estimated remaining drinking window until at least 2025, probably longer.
UPDATE 10.03.2020: Ten days after opening, the nose has developed the fruit notes further, into more tropical sweet, ripe fruits like mango, honeydew melon and a smoky hint of Lapsang Souchong. Wonderful. (90-91p). The taste has not changed much other than perhaps presenting a little softer mouthfeel. (remaining at 89p). I up the TOTAL SCORE by 1 to 90 points.
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2 comments have been posted
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Comment posted by Julian B:
3/1/2020 8:05:00 PM - Good review. I had a bottle of the 2004 recently and it too tasted like a mere pup. Most of the older bottles I’ve had - ‘96, ‘98 and ‘00 - have been more golden in appearance and honeyed in flavour at a similar age. For mind it is the difference between cork and screw cap, as that is only thing that is different.
Comment posted by SAND:
3/9/2020 12:15:00 PM - Thank you for the feedback. Mind you, this bottle had a cork closure, no screw cap. Its apparent youthfulness could be down to the vintage, although that doesn’t really seem to be supported by other people’s previous tasting notes. Perhaps it’s just that my cellar is relatively cool and tend to mature wines slowly?