Century Wine Club - October 2005 (Langton's Classification Tasting)

Monthly Century Wine Club tasting with a focus on wines from the new Langton's Classification that was recently published. $100 a head bought 13 wines that are in various classifications with a couple of ring-ins to fill the gaps.

• 2004 Patrizi Moscato d'Asti 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Moscato d'Asti

  Spritzy and fresh. Very low alcohol (5.5%). Powerful fruit fills out the palette with a very good acid finish. Touch of cloyness at the back but still a fine finish. Good bite. Very appropriate summer/BBQ wine.

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Started with a white and lead into the odd-Pinot-out and a few of the lighter Cabernet's

• 1996 Mount Pleasant Wines Sémillon Single Vineyard Lovedale 91 Points

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  Full shiny deep gold hue's with a classy nose showing some definite bottle age. Touches of honey and almost abit of oak coming off the front of the palette, but initially it seems dominated with metho tones which give it a tad offensive flavour. Wine definitely softened out in the glass though and grew over the next 20 minutes into a much more subtle and balanced wine. Honeydew and grapefruit started to show through with heaps of acid left to give it many more years. Oily body structure just starting to show. Try in another 5-6 years, 2-3 if you don't enjoy the oily tendencies of aged Hunter Sem's.

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• 2000 Bannockburn Pinot Noir Serre 94 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong

  Wow. Bottle showing some browing on the rim which really doesn't match the bottle age. Ripe fruit on the nose with a good spice kick mid palette. Touches of smokey oak with sultanas and plums dominating the flavours. The slight touch of overripe fruit did actually balance well. With abit of time in the glass whafts of caramel started to dominate the nose. Was very happy with it. Unfortunatly the wine started to show alittle short, but still a finely crafted wine.

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• 2000 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon 90 Points

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  Bright dark red hue's. Huge body structure with a decent elegant length on the palette. Lots of secondary characters showing through which are masking the fruit abit at the moment. Seems abit adolesent, but has promise. In the glass the red berries fill out the nose and the hot fruit peeked out alittle. Fine but green tannin structure. Try again in a few years.

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• 2002 Yarra Yarra Cabernet Sauvignon 85 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Blackcurrents showing through on the nose with touches of mint giving an impression of variatal characters. Big tanning structure filling out the palette giving a "hammerhead" style to the wine, though we are tasting it very young so this will soften out in the bottle. Cigar box, jam and varnish flavours start to dominate as the wine has time in teh glass. Unbalanced and very powerful. Abit simple at this stage overall but may develop later. Disappointing considering the price point.

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• 2001 Vasse Felix Heytesbury 90 Points

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

  Sweeter tones showing on the nose with huge legs in the glass. Sweet long fruit dominates the palette. Very well built and drinking exceptionally well now considering the youth of the bottle. Funky, sweaty saddle coming of the nose which gives the wine some character. Perhaps abit unbalanced at the moment but the fruit will definitely show through with abit more time. Very good.

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Focused on 3 of the larger Cabernet's

• 2001 Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa First Growth 83 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  Shiney red hue's leading into huge tannins. Sweet fruits giving a classy front palette but ending short. Full body showing all the traits of good fruit, but overall the wine was unbalanced with no structure. Perhaps a bad bottle

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• 2000 Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Odyssey 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  Super wow. Dark red gue's with a nice pong on the nose showing red berries and rosemary. Super sweet with excellent plummy length on the palette. Acid showing well, giving the wine structure and a promise of many years to come. Classy use of oak, perhaps abit overdone - but that will soften out. Fine tannin structure just showing overall class. No qualms in giving this wine a 95.

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• 2002 Majella The Malleea 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  Blood red hue's. Very fruit driven on the palette but showing abit flat to begin with. Fine tannin structure and a bit dry hit to the front of the palette before leading into a fleshy ripe but balanced body. Well integrated tannins. Really showed well with some time in the glass as the wine built alot more character. Will last forever, and best to leave at least another 4 years before looking at another bottle.

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Shiraz bracket

• 2002 Torbreck RunRig 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Classy red fruit showing on the nose. Super sweet fruit dominates the palette with hot lifted flavours. Touches of pong on the nose giving the wine a classy character. Asparagus flavours start to show through the mid palette with some time in the glass, unbalancing the wine a touch - but this will improve. Very concentrated elegance with long yet soft tannins. Very plush.

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• 2002 Mitchelton Shiraz Print 92 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria

  Big and black with smooth cooked fruit dominating the palette. The hot fruit showing high alcohol flavours but integrated enough to allow some secondary characters to grace the palette. Coates your mouth with full flavour. Acid really hits hard at the back of the palette. For this price, the wine is absolute value plus.

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• 2002 Clarendon Hills Astralis 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Clarendon

  Super smooth with fat, ripe fruit. Well structured with red berries showing on the mid palette. Perhaps a touch of Viognier also pushing through. In the glass the palette opened up showing more cigar and meaty flavours. Simplified a little though giving off confectionary tones and shortening up on the palette. Disappointing considering the price point.

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• 2003 Rolf Binder/Veritas Shiraz Hanisch 96 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  HUGE wine. Super sweet freet dominating the hammer like front palette. Still the wine is balanced, but very tannic. Will show better in a few years once it's had time to settle down. Opened up with about 30 minutes in the glass. Hugely concentrated with a fair whack of oak treatment. Absolute meal in a glass.

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• 2001 Yalumba Shiraz The Octavius 84 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Smooth full fruit but abit overpowering. Fruit showing some good quality but not displaying very predominatly. Not a great bottle. Wine showing traces of musky oak. Would like to see again sometime.

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Excellent tasting. Would have preferred some more time to sit with each wine as they all developed well after 20-30 minutes in the glass. Quite a few instances where the ~$40 wines outshone the ~$200 wines which is always interesting to see. Alot of the wines will develop much better with some time in the bottle as any were tasted very young, and outside their recommended drinking window.