Deep gold, the wine is developed. Medium intensity on the most, butterscotch, ripe rock melon and cream. Honey and sweet honeysuckle. Some vanilla and a bit of orange marmalade.
The wine is dry and still had medium+ acidity, medium alcohol,. It has medium body and medium flavour intensity.
The palate is marmalade, overripe apricot and rock melon. Some dried fruits and honey.
It had a medium+ finish
The wine has balance 1, length .5, intensity .5 and complexity ,5. The wine is very good.
Drink now, not suitable for further ageing
Perfect with a double brie
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(MidWinter Brunner:Truffles+Wagyu+TextBookWines) Dark, toffee in glass, honey and beeswax on the nose, with toasted walnut, and nutty soy. Similar poise to the 1997 Rosemount, but deeper and richer. Bright acidity on the palate, structured beautifully with raisins, and white flowers, late apricots peach and some fascinating iodine and saltspray complexity. Oily, but light, finely balanced, impeccable. Long sustained finish, showing butterscoth and salted butter. Quite stunning, and the bottle totally alive - heaps better than the previous bottle, which was flagging. Unfortunately, my last bottle. Certainly and unabashedly new-world, but gosh, enough character and complexity to take on some serious burgs, IMHO. Easily rivals the Leeuwin Estate from a similar vintage.
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Wine and Food Matching @ Ben's: Caramel oak, with some sea spray and a light sherry character than may suggest this bottle was just starting on the downward slope. The wines richness shows through on the palate, almost overwhelming power but there is a pure fruit character that kicks in on the finish and it finishes quite fresh.
I think the quality of this wine is obvious, hopefully there are better bottles out there.
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JM's Old World Education (Pine Close): Still a very good new world Chardonnay, but this was really quite disappointing after the magical showing we had with the last bottle a year or so back. While that was at the peak of its powers, this bottle seemed tired and a little flabby at the edges - quite clearly coming towards the end of its drinking window. I must say it still had a lovely nose though - a complex melange of sweet aromas, from matured mushroomy nuances, and honey and caramel notes, to ripe apples and sweet melons, earth and mineral, and just a little waft of honeysuckle flowers. A nice, warm, sunny nose, with as much nuance and shade as one would hope for even in a great Burg Grand Cru. The palate was, unfortunately, a few steps behind. Promising on the attack, where it was still rich and creamily textured, it showed the ripest apple flavours along with honeyed, dried mangoes tones, all wrapped in lovely melting balance. It was only past the midpalate where it seemed to lose the vibrant edge, with the fruit thinning out a bit to reveal a spine of minerality and a touch of spice. Even then, the finish had really respectable length to it, with complex little lingers of fruit and honey floating away into the distance. After an hour opened though, when Alex H got to try it, the bottle had clearly gone downhill, becoming rather flabby at the back-end. This perhaps illustrates the gulf between the best of the new world and the old - the bottles of 1997 Leory Bourgogne Blanc and 1995 Roulot Meursault Village that followed were far more alive than this was, perhaps even needing more time in the cellar. Overall, this was a very nice wine while it lasted, but one at the sunset of its life. Drink up.
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(jm's old world education@paulS') Golden amber in glass, this showed musky florals, dried mandarin peel and an expressive sweet funk. Oaky orange, with caramel intensity on taste, this bottle was fat and oily, ripe red apples, with a hint of creosote, glycerol viscosity, textural with overripe mango. Finish is clean enough: shale-y, long, lingering and oily. Lovely complexity, as aussie chards go, but does it even stand up to it's burgundian cousins? Flabby now - this bottle would perhaps have shown up better drinking a few years younger.
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Absolutely elegantly presented nose of classy lemons ,a drop of butter, slightly toasted nuts with bread. Wow! Shoulder to shoulder with the Montrachet. Sparkling minerality with beaming lemons and polished pebbles. Just the right amount of freshly churned cream but this is excellent! Ooh richer then the Montrachet but no less elegant. A bit more boasty but with this quality, still underselling itself.
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Honey nectar chrysanthemum nose, orange blossoms, beautiful nose. Rich, creamy, buttery, caramel, fatty, big and overwhelming wine. Nice acidity, and a luscious finish with some warmth in the finish. This is jus amazing with its power and finese. This blew me away, its bloody amazing.
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Alex's Bachelor's Party (Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Paragon): This is not only one of the best new world wines, or the best new world Chardonnays I have ever had - it is one of the best white wines I have ever experienced period. We were stunned by this, back from a week in Burgundy, it did not cross any of our minds when blinded that this could be anything other than a top-notch Grand Cru from the Cote d'Or. In fact, put next to a Le Montrachet of great quality on the same flight, it was hard to choose between the two - while I just about preferred the Burg, some even thought that this wine might just have shaded the far more expensive old world counterpart. It started out with a lovely nose, with butter, cooked cream, mushroom soup scents, and then fleshy white fruit aromas spiked with some caramel and toffee, some nuts and a floaty, flowery accent casting a halo over the whole bouquet. Deep, rich, complex, and absolutely attractive - everything a Grand Cru Burg should be on the nose. Incredibly, the palate was even better. Absolutely pitch perfect balance and supremely integrated, I just could not wrap my mind around it. Woah, woah, woah. Rich, lots of buttery, creamy notes, some caramel, nuts, warm summery fruits, but also with more old worldy flavours of apples, pears, melons, lemons - it was just dripping with complexity and intense depth, yet at the same time, it was fresh, lively, absolutely precise, almost laser-like in the way it zoomed across the palate. The finish was incredible, brilliant length, great power, and absolutely palate staining flavours of mineral, toasty oak and yellow fruit. I could have sworn it was a Grand Cru Burg of the highest quality, and did. This was a mindblowingly good wine both in terms of quality and by the fact of its origins. Even more surprisingly, it look and tasted so young that we thought it was hovering around the 2000-2002 vintages. Just two years younger than the Monty we had alongside, but this came across at least a decade younger - another myth about new world Chards not aging well debunked then. The fact that it was younger, fresher and more vibrant also meant that while the Monty was a lovely pairing with our dish of live crayfish in a truffled egg white, this was a nocth up, making for an absolutely perfect marriage between food and wine. I know this wine has not been rated highly on CT, or by many professional tasters indeed, but this is again proof that blind tastings are the great levellers. Amazing stuff. I was gobsmacked, and continue to remain so. The only new world wine of the night, yet it was up there with the very best the old world could offer to our dinner.
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Decent New World Chard with a bit of Old World finesse. Good structure, bright acidity, subdued peach and apple fruits. Just a touch of of oak and butter. I think this wine has the stuffing to go a couple more years - it was surprisingly fresh and crisp.
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V64 Meeting (Gala Restaurant, 22 Kearns Crescent, Applecross, W Auatralia): The wine was certainly past its best. The fruit had fallen away and the oak was no longer in balance. The nose showed the char of the barrels with a burned, toasty nose prominent and little of the usual characteristics being present. The palate shows similar traits, with the burnt oak flavours over-powering the remaining fruit. The finish was again oak driven with the peach, apricot flavours reminding us of what the fruit must have been.
There was some difference in opinion here in that a number of members found this to be a very good wine on the night and that there may have been a case of bottle variation.
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9/2/2023 - bowesmana wrote: flawed
This one of the 3 bottles I had was too oxidised and was like vinegar
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12/9/2022 - bowesmana Likes this wine: 90 Points
Deep gold, the wine is developed.
Medium intensity on the most, butterscotch, ripe rock melon and cream. Honey and sweet honeysuckle. Some vanilla and a bit of orange marmalade.
The wine is dry and still had medium+ acidity, medium alcohol,. It has medium body and medium flavour intensity.
The palate is marmalade, overripe apricot and rock melon. Some dried fruits and honey.
It had a medium+ finish
The wine has balance 1, length .5, intensity .5 and complexity ,5. The wine is very good.
Drink now, not suitable for further ageing
Perfect with a double brie
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7/5/2014 - JerM wrote: 96 Points
(MidWinter Brunner:Truffles+Wagyu+TextBookWines) Dark, toffee in glass, honey and beeswax on the nose, with toasted walnut, and nutty soy. Similar poise to the 1997 Rosemount, but deeper and richer. Bright acidity on the palate, structured beautifully with raisins, and white flowers, late apricots peach and some fascinating iodine and saltspray complexity. Oily, but light, finely balanced, impeccable. Long sustained finish, showing butterscoth and salted butter. Quite stunning, and the bottle totally alive - heaps better than the previous bottle, which was flagging. Unfortunately, my last bottle. Certainly and unabashedly new-world, but gosh, enough character and complexity to take on some serious burgs, IMHO. Easily rivals the Leeuwin Estate from a similar vintage.
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11/2/2013 - CamWheeler wrote: 88 Points
Wine and Food Matching @ Ben's: Caramel oak, with some sea spray and a light sherry character than may suggest this bottle was just starting on the downward slope. The wines richness shows through on the palate, almost overwhelming power but there is a pure fruit character that kicks in on the finish and it finishes quite fresh.
I think the quality of this wine is obvious, hopefully there are better bottles out there.
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12/30/2012 - Paul S wrote: 92 Points
JM's Old World Education (Pine Close): Still a very good new world Chardonnay, but this was really quite disappointing after the magical showing we had with the last bottle a year or so back. While that was at the peak of its powers, this bottle seemed tired and a little flabby at the edges - quite clearly coming towards the end of its drinking window. I must say it still had a lovely nose though - a complex melange of sweet aromas, from matured mushroomy nuances, and honey and caramel notes, to ripe apples and sweet melons, earth and mineral, and just a little waft of honeysuckle flowers. A nice, warm, sunny nose, with as much nuance and shade as one would hope for even in a great Burg Grand Cru. The palate was, unfortunately, a few steps behind. Promising on the attack, where it was still rich and creamily textured, it showed the ripest apple flavours along with honeyed, dried mangoes tones, all wrapped in lovely melting balance. It was only past the midpalate where it seemed to lose the vibrant edge, with the fruit thinning out a bit to reveal a spine of minerality and a touch of spice. Even then, the finish had really respectable length to it, with complex little lingers of fruit and honey floating away into the distance. After an hour opened though, when Alex H got to try it, the bottle had clearly gone downhill, becoming rather flabby at the back-end. This perhaps illustrates the gulf between the best of the new world and the old - the bottles of 1997 Leory Bourgogne Blanc and 1995 Roulot Meursault Village that followed were far more alive than this was, perhaps even needing more time in the cellar. Overall, this was a very nice wine while it lasted, but one at the sunset of its life. Drink up.
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12/30/2012 - JerM wrote: 93 Points
(jm's old world education@paulS') Golden amber in glass, this showed musky florals, dried mandarin peel and an expressive sweet funk. Oaky orange, with caramel intensity on taste, this bottle was fat and oily, ripe red apples, with a hint of creosote, glycerol viscosity, textural with overripe mango. Finish is clean enough: shale-y, long, lingering and oily. Lovely complexity, as aussie chards go, but does it even stand up to it's burgundian cousins? Flabby now - this bottle would perhaps have shown up better drinking a few years younger.
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12/30/2012 - Alex H wrote: 85 Points
Lots of corn and canola oil. Deep yellow fruits , developed. Really needs to be drunk. This bottle seem very tired and flabby.
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7/10/2011 - Alex H wrote: 93 Points
Absolutely elegantly presented nose of classy lemons ,a drop of butter, slightly toasted nuts with bread.
Wow! Shoulder to shoulder with the Montrachet. Sparkling minerality with beaming lemons and polished pebbles. Just the right amount of freshly churned cream but this is excellent! Ooh richer then the Montrachet but no less elegant. A bit more boasty but with this quality, still underselling itself.
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6/4/2011 - Mingmong wrote: 95 Points
Honey nectar chrysanthemum nose, orange blossoms, beautiful nose. Rich, creamy, buttery, caramel, fatty, big and overwhelming wine. Nice acidity, and a luscious finish with some warmth in the finish. This is jus amazing with its power and finese. This blew me away, its bloody amazing.
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6/4/2011 - Paul S wrote: 96 Points
Alex's Bachelor's Party (Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Paragon): This is not only one of the best new world wines, or the best new world Chardonnays I have ever had - it is one of the best white wines I have ever experienced period. We were stunned by this, back from a week in Burgundy, it did not cross any of our minds when blinded that this could be anything other than a top-notch Grand Cru from the Cote d'Or. In fact, put next to a Le Montrachet of great quality on the same flight, it was hard to choose between the two - while I just about preferred the Burg, some even thought that this wine might just have shaded the far more expensive old world counterpart. It started out with a lovely nose, with butter, cooked cream, mushroom soup scents, and then fleshy white fruit aromas spiked with some caramel and toffee, some nuts and a floaty, flowery accent casting a halo over the whole bouquet. Deep, rich, complex, and absolutely attractive - everything a Grand Cru Burg should be on the nose. Incredibly, the palate was even better. Absolutely pitch perfect balance and supremely integrated, I just could not wrap my mind around it. Woah, woah, woah. Rich, lots of buttery, creamy notes, some caramel, nuts, warm summery fruits, but also with more old worldy flavours of apples, pears, melons, lemons - it was just dripping with complexity and intense depth, yet at the same time, it was fresh, lively, absolutely precise, almost laser-like in the way it zoomed across the palate. The finish was incredible, brilliant length, great power, and absolutely palate staining flavours of mineral, toasty oak and yellow fruit. I could have sworn it was a Grand Cru Burg of the highest quality, and did. This was a mindblowingly good wine both in terms of quality and by the fact of its origins. Even more surprisingly, it look and tasted so young that we thought it was hovering around the 2000-2002 vintages. Just two years younger than the Monty we had alongside, but this came across at least a decade younger - another myth about new world Chards not aging well debunked then. The fact that it was younger, fresher and more vibrant also meant that while the Monty was a lovely pairing with our dish of live crayfish in a truffled egg white, this was a nocth up, making for an absolutely perfect marriage between food and wine. I know this wine has not been rated highly on CT, or by many professional tasters indeed, but this is again proof that blind tastings are the great levellers. Amazing stuff. I was gobsmacked, and continue to remain so. The only new world wine of the night, yet it was up there with the very best the old world could offer to our dinner.
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12/29/2009 - chatters wrote:
No formal notes, but very nice. Deep golden colour, pineapple cubes and gentle acidity.
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12/25/2005 - MarkC wrote: 89 Points
Decent New World Chard with a bit of Old World finesse. Good structure, bright acidity, subdued peach and apple fruits. Just a touch of of oak and butter. I think this wine has the stuffing to go a couple more years - it was surprisingly fresh and crisp.
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3/22/2005 - V64 wrote:
V64 Meeting (Gala Restaurant, 22 Kearns Crescent, Applecross, W Auatralia): The wine was certainly past its best. The fruit had fallen away and the oak was no longer in balance. The nose showed the char of the barrels with a burned, toasty nose prominent and little of the usual characteristics being present. The palate shows similar traits, with the burnt oak flavours over-powering the remaining fruit. The finish was again oak driven with the peach, apricot flavours reminding us of what the fruit must have been.
There was some difference in opinion here in that a number of members found this to be a very good wine on the night and that there may have been a case of bottle variation.
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