2016 Sydney Royal Wine Show - Exhibitor's Tasting & Trophy Wines Lunch
Olympic Park, Homebush
Tasted Friday, July 8, 2016 by graemeg with 609 views
Introduction
These necessarily cursory notes were from the Exhibitors Tasting following the Sydney Royal Wine Show 2016, now in its new July timeslot. It was an unintentionally unhurried tasting, especially with rather slow stewards (more-so in the case of cork-sealed wines, where any residual opening expertise seems to have vanished entirely) and barely two hours to try to pick the eyes out of the 2300-entry catalogue, with no advance planning available. Riedel Overture glasses helped the tasting experience. I only tasted a few wines in the crush of the trophy-winners section, hoping to catch most of them at lunch (but without knowing which ones!) These days the Sydney show uses a 100-point system; Gold medal is 95+, Silver is 90 to less than 95, Bronze 85 to less than 90. All wines were on tasting, medal or not. There’s been much rationalisation of classes, the distinctions between commercial and premium are gone, single vineyards are gone. It does mean a single class is judged by more than one panel; there were 240 entries in the 2014 shiraz, for instance, so the logistics there must be pretty horrendous. Recent vintages of mainstream grapes (2016-15-14) are isolated by class, the smaller ‘Aged’ classes and the weird & wonderful mix things up a bit. The judges get samples grouped regionally at least to help with consistent judgement. Anyway, full details are on the website surely . I included medal details & judges score, and if a new release, typical local retail price.
Flight 1 (38 Notes)
Flight 2 - Trophy Wine lunch - Four Seasons Hotel (12 Notes)
The Wine Communicators of Australia Sydney Royal Wine Show Trophy Lunch was again at the Four Seasons hotel in George St Sydney. They’ve cut back on the wines; the first few times I went to this event (2009, 2011) there was a second flight of reds, making seven in all; now it’s just the four. A pity the trophy pinot noir wasn’t in the mix, also they didn’t serve the previous year’s Jimmy Watson winner as they used to do; perhaps that’s because it’s likely sold out, given the Sydney show is now held just before the Melbourne one, instead of six months later. Offering both ‘best other red’ and ‘best other red blend’ for lunch seemed an odd decision since they were both from Bleasdale! Maybe because the Chalkers wine took so many trophies; there just weren’t that many alternative reds available. No trophy was awarded (so no gold medals) for sparkling red, nor merlot; nor white blend.
As so often, the trophy whites were better wines than the reds, although there may have been slim pickings even there. 85 Sauvignon blancs managed just two (barely) gold medal scores, 70-odd grigios did only a little better with three golds. A least we weren’t subjected to those…
2016 Leo Buring Riesling Leonay Watervale
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Watervale
(silver medal; 92p) {screwcap 11.5%, A$33} Lime juice and talc. Pure, with zippy fresh medium-high acidity. Tastes as the nose promises; medium weight, dry, with good presence on the mid-palate. Very good.
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2015 Penfolds Riesling Bin 51
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap 11.5%, A$28} Assertive citrus/lemon aromas. The palate is tight, lemony, restrained. Medium acid; it’s dry, with fair presence on the front palate. It feels very tight though; even the medium-length finish feels to be shying away. There’s still a medium-weight feel to it, even though it’s still hard to pin down a lot of presence and flavour. Really needs some time.
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2015 d'Arenberg Riesling The Dry Dam
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(silver medal; 93p) {screwcap 10.3%, A$18} Floral and pretty. Warm aromas; musk too. I’d still call it dry, although there’s good medium acidity to balance just a little sugar. The palate is a touch spritzy, with musk and talc flavours, a lick of sweet fruit; comes through as sweet apple and even a touch of honey. Light/medium body, with a medium length finish. Good value, even in a bargain riesling context.
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2015 Jim Barry Riesling The Florita
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley
(bronze medal; 87p) {screwcap 12.3%, A$44} Sweet apple aromas; almost Germanic. Lots of acid, but it’s not harsh; it just seems to add an aura to the texture and presence. A little sweetness is balanced out; and the resulting wine is still only light-medium in weight. The medium length finish feels dry at least. I don’t get there’s the depth or purity here to justify the price, I must say. Never really been blown away by a Florita; it’s always struck me as an early-drinker trading a bit on the name and reputation from Vickery’s wines from the 70s.
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2015 Centennial Riesling Old Block 1012
Australia, New South Wales, South Coast, Southern Highlands
(no medal; 83p) {screwcap 10.7%, A$25} Quite developing nose, especially considering the age. Aromas of tobacco and earth. Wiry, metallic flavours on the palate. Mild white fruits, not very Riesling-like. Still, it’s light-bodied, and dry, but also rather short. Not much character or interest here. A disappointing surprise from such a cool region.
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2012 Peter Lehmann Riesling Wigan
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
(bronze medal; 87p) {screwcap, A$28} This is a alarmingly vintage-sensitive label. Despite the vintage reputation, this is very advanced in aroma, the lime character drenched in kerosene. The palate has lots of simple and overt lemon characters, rather washed-out; light/medium-bodied and dry, but sadly short-finishing. Possibly a bit dumb, but it doesn’t even really tantalise the palate in any particular way. The contrast with the ‘lesser’ preceding vintage is striking.
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2011 Peter Lehmann Riesling Wigan
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, 11%, A$28} Classy mix of citrus, lime, minerals. Medium/full-bodied, but balanced. Dry, not overblown, with lime flavours, a touch of apple, and a mineral component too. Very good, with a medium-length finish. Way better than the 2012.
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2015 Peter Lehmann Sémillon Margaret
Australia, South Australia, Barossa
(no medal; 82p) {screwcap, A$28} Aromatically grassy, with a touch of earth, so developing a bit. Light-bodied, but still with a rather muted palate; a little straw flavour, not much else. Dry, but with a rather dull, shortish finish. Disappointing.
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2009 Coolangatta Estate Sémillon Wollstonecraft
Australia, New South Wales, South Coast, Shoalhaven Coast
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, 11%, A$40} Honeyed and toasty, but still fresh; this isn’t stale/old. Nicely built palate, well-balanced with older Semillon characters. The acid is fairly soft now; it’s light/medium-bodied, with a medium length finish. It’s decent, not great, although it’s an interesting effort from a lesser known region.
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2010 Peter Lehmann Sémillon Margaret
Australia, South Australia, Barossa
(silver medal; 90p) {screwcap, 11%, A$28} Still a yellow-green colour. Fresher than the 2015, surprisingly. A smoky-tinged, vaguely grassy nose on the nose. Still fresh. Palate has a little age now with a blend of grass and toast, nicely balanced with good mid-palate weight, light/medium weight, with medium acid and a medium/long finish. Good, but getting near its plateau of development I think.
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2015 Tahbilk Five Generations
Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Nagambie Lakes
(no medal 82p) {screwcap, 13%, A$20} A weird mix of grass and honey. A touch anonymous on the palate; the kind of wine you’d struggle to find a characteristic varietal taste, chiefly because there are so many varieties in it. It’s light/medium-bodied, with no evidence of oak. The palate seems to constantly threaten to turn into a tropical fruit-fest, but never quite does. The rather low acidity detracts a little. A decent enough little wine, and OK in view of the price, but I was expecting something a bit less anonymous.
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2010 Tahbilk Marsanne 1927 Vines
Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Nagambie Lakes
(trophy 97p) {screwcap, 11.5%, A$45} Trophy for Best Other White, and the only entry to pick up a gold over a couple of relevant judging classes. Was also served at the lunch; see other note. Always an aged release; the winery is still selling the 2008, so this is an advance look. The nose id beautifully grassy, with lanolin and a nod of earthy minerality. It’s not young, although hardly developed. Although the flavours follow the nose, and with some density and impression, it still never exceeds medium weight, and fairly dances on the tongue. Impeccable balance and a medium/long dry finish. Really lovely wine. A deserving winner. The lunch tasting just confirmed everything, and was a great advertisement for the screwcap as a seal.
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2006 House of Arras Blanc de Blancs
Australia, Tasmania
(gold medal; 95p) {12.5%, A$60} Lovely developing nose of mead and bread. The palate is quite evolved, with dusty and almost strident chardonnay fruit. Really does feel like a table wine with bubbles; it has that level of seriousness, not just some get-sloshed-fizz. Big mid-palate, medium/full-bodied, medium/large almost aggressive bubbles. At this tasting was served very (too) cold; needs warmer than ice-bucket temperature.
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2015 Bird in Hand Chardonnay Nest Egg
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, 13.5%, A$100} White fleshy fruits and nuts. The palate is balanced and polished, but dominated by quality oak; still the nut and grapefruit flavours are evident. Medium/full-bodied. Dry, medium/long finish, all quality; perhaps a little anonymous and formulaic at the moment. All cool-climate characters; should blossom in the shorter term at least (no experience with this label with age). Serious questions over value-for-money however.
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2014 Seppelt Chardonnay Drumborg Vineyard
Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Henty
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, 12.5%, A$39} Youthful, finely mineral-infused nose. Subtle oak and grapefruit; very fine. Balanced cool-climate fruit flavours, but fresh, and avoiding too much terse harshness. Medium body, not too much oak, long finish; a great advert for big company wine and indeed Seppelt’s Drumborg sites.
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2013 Hardys Chardonnay Bastard Hill
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
(silver medal; 94p) {screwcap, A$60} Surprisingly developed; sweaty and oily. Dry, heavily worked chardonnay, half-way between the modern acerbic style and the old oaky, buttery efforts. This one is neither one-nor-the-other; less flinty than the nose promised, as though the winemakers said ‘we’ve still got to give them a heap of oak and malo character’. Actual overt fruit is hard to find, but there isn’t a vineyard-derived complexity to offset it either. The resulting palate is driven by (quality) oak, but that’s really all. No value in this; drink up soon.
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2011 Heemskerk Coal River Valley Chardonnay Pinot Noir
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(silver medal; 90p) {A$50} The expensive pyramid bottle, not the Abel Tasman cheapie wine. White chardonnay fruit, with a clip of cheese character. Medium-bodied, with medium/high acidity. A bit developed on the palate; there’s a nice lick of strawberry backing to the flavours; it’s a bright, clean medium-bodied style with medium-sized creamy bubbles, plenty of palate presence, and a dry medium finish. OK, but kinda pricey.
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2015 Shadowfax Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Macedon Ranges
(silver medal; 92p) {screwcap, 13%, A$35} Light cherry/strawberry nose, with little oak and plenty of fruit. The palate is breezy and tart, with fresh grape and cranberry flavours, minimal oak, some front-palate presence. It’s light/medium-bodied, with e crisp but shortish dry finish. Meh.
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2015 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir Single Block Release Block 2
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(bronze medal; 87p) {screwcap, A$95} Closed. Fruity/cherry aromas, but very dumb. Low/medium dusty tannins, softly spiced oak, mil cherry flavours. I understand the judges passing over a wine of this pedigree. And it seems to be promising in a medium-bodied way (despite the restraint) until it suddenly drops away to a short finish. Oh. So, too expensive to gamble with it, unless you’re more confident of the pedigree than I.
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2015 Best's Great Western Pinot Noir
Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Great Western
(no medal; 81p) {screwcap, A$25} Mid-range red fruits, rather anonymous nose; tending to liqueured strawberries. The palate has decent cherry flavours, but is a bit hollow on the mid-palate. It’s light/medium-bodied, with soft oak, not much structure or tannin. Short/medium finish. In fairness, the price is good though. These guys claim to have some of the oldest pinot grapes in the world; wonder what they do with them?
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2014 Hardys Pinot Noir Eileen Hardy
Australia, Tasmania
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, 13%, A$95} Developing nose; dusty with earth and mushrooms. Palate offers raspberry/cherry fruits eventually. Lots of structure; oak, rather hard acid. Big solid wine with potential, very good, but a little soulless maybe. Medium/full body, medium dusty tannins, medium oak, medium/long finish. Might go alright, you know.
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2014 Montalto Vineyards Pinot Noir Single Vineyard Main Ridge Block
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(silver medal; 90p) {screwcap, 13.7%, A$70} Lifted cherry fruits, plus plenty of oak. Densely-packed, medium-bodied palate, fruit-driven with supporting oak. Medium acid, low/medium powdery tannins. Authentic, ripe palate, with friendly red flavours; nothing tart here. Finish is a bit short of medium length which is a bit of a let-down.
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2014 Symphony Hill Pinot Noir Family Reserve
Australia, Queensland, Granite Belt
(no medal; 80p) {screwcap, 14.7%, A$65} Fairly muted, but still jammy nose. A palate of light red fruit flavour, with no particular pinot character. Some serious big-boned chalky tannin dominates the otherwise light/medium-bodied palate. Avoids heat at least, but something of a Frankenstein. I get that the winemaker tried hard, and competently, and the Granite Belt is cooler than the rest of Queensland. Look, as a generic red wine it’s OK, if pricey; as pinot it’s very odd. No medal is no surprise. Not sure cellaring will help either.
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2014 St Hallett Touriga Nacional Cellar Door Release
Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
(silver medal; 90p) {screwcap, 12.5%, A$30} Confected liquorice nose, but with a late tart twist to it. Sweet sarsaparilla flavours, a tangy texture too. Dry though, no RS here. Medium acid, low powdery tannins, but just grape-derived, not from oak. Light-medium weight, with a shortish finish. Interesting light red, don’t drink too warm, not for cellaring.
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2014 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz Mast Shiraz
Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Grampians
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, 14%, A$45} Fresh blackberry fruit, with earth too. Sweetly-fruit blackberry flavours on the medium-bodied palate are supported by medium chalky tannins, and a mineral quality. Medium acid keeps it fresh. Not confected at all, not too warm. Just medium finish, fairly even palate. Worthy wine, needs some time to evolve.
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2015 Credaro Estate Shiraz 100 Crowns
Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
(gold medal; 90p) {screwcap, 11%, A$75} Ripe nose of spicy aromas and inky-tinged fruit. Not a monster though. Medium-bodied palate is framed by fine gritty tannins, sweet liquorice/black fruit flavours and soft oak. Good even palate, with a medium length finish. Really good wine; avoids the green character which bedevils so much MR shiraz. Fearsomely priced though, for a johnny-come-lately.
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2013 Tahbilk Old Vines Cabernet - Shiraz
Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Nagambie Lakes
(no medal; 85p) {screwcap, 14%, A$45} Lovely aromatic blend of currant cabernet and spicy shiraz with soft vanillan oak. Not so dry and earthy as ‘old-style’-Tahbilk, but no fruit-bomb either. The medium-bodied savoury palate offers plenty of fruity flavour, good medium acid,powdery medium/high tannins, and even balance along the tongue. I’m guessing the judges pointed it down for a surprisingly short finish. Maybe there’s some promise with a bit of cellaring time, considering the decent overall balance otherwise.
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2012 Wolf Blass Black Label
Australia, South Australia
(bronze medal; 87p) {screwcap, A$109} Plenty of big, ripe, mint-and currant scented fruit. Could almost be wrapped in dark chocolate and put in a little foil packet. The palate is medium/full-bodied, with medium powdery tannins, and medium length finish. The palate is less oaky than I expected; but it’s young; the ripe black fruits are blocky on the tongue, and it feels a bit disjointed on the finish. Time will fix all of this; it’s a good example of a slightly old-fashioned style these days.
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2015 Collector Wines Shiraz Reserve
Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Canberra District
(silver medal; 93p) {screwcap, 13%, A$59} Spicy but ripe nose; screams cool-climate but avoids too much overt pepper. Beautiful medium-bodied weight, with flavour right the length of the tongue; medium dusty tannins and balanced acid all add up to a sum greater than that of its parts. There is a little more pepper to the flavours, but it remains spicy and savoury in a dark-red fruit style. Should age beautifully; the winery has built quite a reputation over recent years.
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2012 St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(silver medal; 90p) {screwcap, 14.5%, A$35} Pure essence of cassis on the nose, with medium chocolatey oak. Polished and ripe; really needs time to get past its present monolithic character. Medium/full-bodied, with medium powdery tannins, good presence on the back palate too. It’s big and competent; doesn’t really lift the spirits at the moment but I think time should help from another fine even-numbered Coonawarra vintage.
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2013 d'Arenberg Cabernet Sauvignon The High Trellis
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(gold medal; 95p) {screwcap, A$18} The 2013 Cabernet class saw nine golds awarded, only one of which was pointed higher than this, easily the cheapest of the bunch. For context, the class had 114 entries. Expecting something, er, unexpected, I was left struggling to understand this verdict. This has a smooth blackberry nose, plenty ripe enough, and although not terribly ‘cabernet’, it’s very McLaren Vale. It’s pretty big too; medium/full-bodied in weight with medium/high somewhat gritty tannins; it’s surprisingly tannic for a wine at this price, given that ‘easy drinkability’ seems to be the watchword in this market segment. Big, ripe blackberry flavours, not too much oak, medium length. It’s a good, and one that might go half-a-dozen years happily, but not quite the quality bargain you might think looking at the show results.
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2014 Lindeman's Cabernet Sauvignon Trio St. George
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(no medal; 82p) {screwcap,13.5%, A$55} Tasting Lindemans Coonawarra these days is a bit like visiting a much-loved elderly relative in the dementia ward. Remembering and regretting all that was lost, you just hope for a momentary flash of what-used-to-be. Understated nose. Mainstream cabernet/currant nose. Seems balanced. The palate offers mild blackberry fruit, framed by medium dusty tannins, subtle vanilla-tinged oak, and a dry medium length finish. It’s sound, competent, nicely balanced although a bit weak beyond the mid-palate. Perhaps in the price context it’s not too bad, but it’s no bargain either. It’s like leaving the ward at least feeling that the patient isn’t getting any worse…
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2012 Lavina Wines Shiraz Grand Royale
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(no medal; 80p) {cork,14.8%, A$100} Ho-ho. Big, black, semi-raisined, supercharged wine. Super-duper uber-McLaren Vale style. But for its dry palate, seems aimed at the old Parker style. You don’t so much drink this wine as wallow in it. Full-bodied, with lots of chalky tannins, extra-ripe (too-ripe!) blackberry jam, vanilla oak. Lots of mid-palate tannins; it may be big but it’s balanced; it’s big everywhere. A bit warm too on the medium-length finish, but not a gloopy disaster, despite the higher alcohol. I get why the judges denied it, though. Packed in a glass bottle so heavy you can hardly tell whether it’s heavy or full. Not for cellaring, at least that’s my experience with this style.
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2012 Serafino Shiraz Sharktooth
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(bronze medal; 87p) {cork,14%, A$55} Ripe blackberries on both nose and palate. Very pure. But the flavours fade a little too fast on the palate, and there’s a surprising hollowness to the mid-palate, especially for a premium McLaren shiraz. It’s not too oaky, nor raisined/dead-grape. This mostly needs time I think, although it’s hard to see greatness here, despite it being a flagship bottling. Medium-bodied, with medium dusty tannins, and a just-medium length finish. Wait and see, but with caveats.
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2012 Wolf Blass Shiraz Platinum Label
Australia, South Australia, Barossa
(no medal; 80p) {cork,14%, A$140} Sweet strawberry jam. Vanilla oak. Maybe some vague spice too, but lots of jam. The palate is very ripe with its sweet red fruit, and stick-out acidity. There are fine but gritty tannins, and a medium-length finish, but its biggest fault is that it sits right on the front tip of the tongue. Manages a medium-length finish, but over-all gives the impression of being over-ripe and lacking in freshness. Good call by the judges. Silly price, too.
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2010 Orlando Shiraz Lawsons
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Padthaway
(bronze medal; 88p) {cork, A$55} Classic Lawsons minty nose, almost imprevious to aging. I reckon every Lawsons made smells exactly the same! Rounded in the mouth, with some dark red fruit character, but it’s still the mint (after-dinner-mint) which dominates. Medium body, medium vanilla oak, medium powdery tannins. Medium length finish. Nicely made wine, if you can take the mint.
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2014 Bowen Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(bronze medal; 87p) {screwcap,14.5%, A$28} Bowen have finally gone to screwcap too. Wow. Leaf and currant nose. Not just black fruit, but some characteristic leaf too. The palate is a touch rustic after all these super-fruity-tasting wines, open and a bit leafy. Herbs, tobacco. It’s medium weight, with low/medium chalky tannins, a dry savoury character, lots of mid-palate presence, and a medium-length finish. I quite liked this, and think it should age well enough in the 5-10 year window.
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NV Penfolds Great Grandfather Rare Tawny
Australia, South Australia
(bronze medal; 87p) {cork, A$300} I seem to drink way more liqueur muscat and muscadelle than the traditional Oz tawny style, which is mostly derived from grenache and sometimes shiraz. This has a powerful tea and brown leaf nose, and a rich full-bodied palate and ancient raisins and a much more spirit/brandied character than the muscat-derived fortifieds. It’s impressive but not terribly endearing somehow. Doesn’t taste obviously sweet, probably thanks to the spirits. Fairly long finish (although not as long as the price promises) but it’s interesting to note that it pointed well below its cheaper (and presumably fresher ) Grandfather sibling, which I didn’t get time to taste.
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