NobleRottersSydney - 2005 Oz reds

A bit of a national red wine horizontal, with some Rotters missing, but Andrew make a cameo appearance.

• NV Moët & Chandon Champagne Brut Réserve Impériale

  France, Champagne

  {cork, 12%} (Kim) Aged aromas, although this has been cellared for a few years. Lots of yeast and cheese on the nose. Rich bottle aged characters. The palate is dry and dusty, but medium/full-bodied, with medium acid, and medium-sized, creamy but aggressive bubbles. Some grapefruit and strawberry flavours in the background, but rather more in the way of aging honey to the fore. Quite weighty, with a medium/long finish. Streets ahead of the regular cuvee, although perhaps the extra cellar time helps.

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• 2005 Mount Mary Quintet

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  {diam, 13%} (Gordon) Double-decanted two hours earlier. Beautiful nose of violets, blackberries and cedar. Youthful too. Lovely leafy flavours, gentle currents. Even on the palate – as ever with Mount Mary – dusty texture, polished feel. Medium powdery tannins, medium body, long finish. No rush with this, even if it falls just fractionally short of the greatest vintages. That’s a carping criticism though. I’d drink this any day.

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• 2005 Seppelt Shiraz Benno

  Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Bendigo

  {screwcap, 13.5%} (Glenn) Developing nose of vanilla coconut and slightly peppery fruits. Palate of blackberries, nettles, pepper. Savoury, medium-bodied, with soft gritty tannins. Rather hard and wiry; less generous that I was expecting. A bit angular somehow; needs a protein dish. Medium oak, medium length finish. Bit of a mystery this; hard to call a future. Not charming, however you cut it.

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• 2005 Brokenwood Shiraz Mistress Block

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  {screwcap, 13.5%} (Graeme) Double-decanted two hours prior. A lightly developing nose of smoke, charcoal, earth, blood and bone. Medium/full-bodied palate, medium/high powdery tannins, but discreetly oaked. Medium acid; big solid mid-palate; long and even. Blackberry, leather and earth flavours. Surprisingly full, tannic and earthy. Dark and briary. Still needs time, although it’s going to finish very earthy in the end. Nice to drink, but not life-changing.

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• 2005 John's Blend Shiraz Margarete's Flawed

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek

  {cork, 14.5%} (Stephen) Double-decanted some hours prior. Mousy, bretty? Something wrong here. Lots of oak, as expected, but the fruits all flat. Not obvioiusly TCA, but like drinking carpet underlay. Not good More mouse-like than anything. Pity.

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• 2005 Dalwhinnie Shiraz Moonambel Pyrenees

  Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Pyrenees

  {cork, 14.3%} (David) Developing nose; dark and briary, a touch fungal; black berries, earth, iodine. Interesting. Medium acid; medium/high dusty tannins. Dark, concentrated flavours – like drinking a glass full of iron filings. Pure, youthful and dry. Spicy flavours. Lots of mid-palate presence. This will be a terrific wine, but now it’s tightly coiled, well-prepared, but really needs another decade to unwind.

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• 2005 Penfolds Shiraz St. Henri

  Australia, South Australia

  {cork, 14%} (Greg) Decanted just prior to dinner. Plummy. Fruity, but surprisingly developed. Medium powdery tannins and medium/full-body. Plum liqueur flavours, but still very dry. Even palate, displays a chocolate tinge as it sits in the glass. Neither fruit-bomb nor really aged yet. It has a medium length finish, but does seem to end abruptly. I wasn’t totally convinced; maybe it’s just at an awkward stage. Certainly would have benefited from more decanter time. Haven’t had many last-decade St Henri’s; this seems to lack the charm of earlier iterations of the label. Perhaps time will help; that’s the pedigree anyway.

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• 2014 Tyrrell's Sémillon 1960 Tyrrell's Old Vine

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  {screwcap, 11.5%, $A18} (Andrew)
  Special bottling for Sydney retailer Kemeny’s, labelled “1960 Old Vines”. Pure grass nose. Chalky, dry, acidic palate, with a softness of texture. Flavours of grass, lemon, detergent. So pure. Medium-bodied; still a touch phenolic – you almost taste the grape skins. Lots of mid-palate presence. Very fine indeed. This has clearly come from some of their better vineyards.

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• 2005 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon Moss Wood Vineyard

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

  {screwcap, 14%} (Andrew) Quite youthful in that slow-evolving MR manner. As is the olive and cassis nose. The palate is typical herb and branch-tinged Margaret River cabinet, with dusty olives, gritty/chalky medium tannins, medium/full-body and quite sizeable presence right along the palate. But it’s stentorian and even a touch hard, and I’m not sure time will help. I sometimes find and unripe edge in Moss Wood’s more recent offerings; I don’t think they justify the very high price; they’re too similar to wines a third their price. This seems a typical example of the latter-day breed.

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• 2011 Taylors Riesling Winemakers

  Australia, South Australia

  {375ml, screwcap, 10%} (Kim) Intimidatingly marked "Project WWBR111". Youthful nose of honey and lychee. Didn’t seem to be all that heavily botrytised, but none the worse for that. Medium acid; could have used more. Medium sweet and medium weight. Still quite fresh and true to variety. Medium length finish. Tricky vintage, perhaps contributing to the wine’s existence in the first place; at any rate I wouldn’t be cellaring this in the hope of further improvement.

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Good night. Very good. Would have been even better with a few more Rotters, or their bottles…