Important Update From the Founder
Read message >
Wine Challenge 1/2005
Darwin, NT, Australia
Tasted February 5, 2005 by wmr with 756 views
Introduction
The Wine Challenge continues with the first round of 2005 being held at Methinee’s last Saturday, a Thai food night, well done Methinee! It was a great steamboat and I thought the fishcakes were great.
Preliminary drinks were Grant Burge and Blue Pyrenees sparkling wines, both of which were very nice. Methinee provided a Tempus 2 botrytis and Rob brought one of my favourites, a Tokay, to have after dinner.
Flight 1 - Champagne (1 note)
Flight 2 - Whites (3 notes)
White
2003 Nepenthe Sémillon Unwooded
80 points
Rather oaky, with assertive toasty and vanilla wood-derived aromas over attractive scents of mineral and lemon sherbet. Clean and fresh, its classy citrus/melon fruit is somewhat subdued by its sweet vanilla oak, which tends to shorten the palate
White
2000 Mount Pleasant Wines Sémillon Elizabeth
93 points
Classic Hunter semillon with a delicate, but pristine aroma of honeydew melon, lemon and tobacco leaf. Long, smooth and polished, it’s perhaps more concentrated that usual, delivering a refined, if slightly soapy palate of lingering fruit and dusty, herbal nuances. Very restrained, fine and elegant, likely to develop great complexity.
White
2004 Briar Ridge Vineyards Sémillon Reserve
80 points
Pale in colour, with a bright finish, low in acid and a weak floral bouquet. The wine was very short on the palette and showed all the features of a young wine. A very average wine
Flight 3 - Reds (3 notes)
Red
1996 St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra
90 points
Firm, powerfully structured long-term Coonawarra cabernet with style and poise. There's a hint of bay leaf behind its minty, fragrant aromas of violets, cassis, vanilla and smoky chocolate oak, while its rather sumptuous and creamy palate is an equal marriage of intense small dark berry fruit and assertive, but integrated French oak.
Red
2002 Seppelt Shiraz Chalambar
96 points
An old-fashioned traditional Australian red burgundy style with some modern oaky trappings. Its exotic, musky and peppery perfume of small red and black berries, dark plums and licorice overlies tightly integrated vanilla/cedar oak. Medium to full in body, it’s smooth and supple, elegant and tight-knit, presenting deep but vibrant spicy fruit framed by fine-grained tannins and refreshing acids. Richly flavoured without ever being heavy or oaky, it’s finely balanced and very classy.
Red
2003 Jim Barry Shiraz The Lodge Hill
89 points
Lively, minty and easy-drinking shiraz with a floral perfume of cassis, plums and eucalypt interwoven with a balanced measure of sweet vanilla oak. Smooth and elegant, its silky, supple palate of vibrant small berry flavours is accentuated by spicy and minty complexity, finishing with fine-grained tannins and lingering sweet fruit flavours.
Flight 4 - Stickys (2 notes)
White - Sweet/Dessert
2001 Tempus Two Sémillon Botrytis
88 points
Bright with a golden yellow colour, flavoursome with a medium length.
White - Fortified
2000 Baileys of Glenrowan Muscat
87 points
Made from 100% muscadelle grapes, the Baileys Founder Liqueur Muscat comes from the Glenrowan region in North East Victoria. The nose exhibits typical tokay aromas of coffee and caramel, while the palate shows intense toffee, malt extract and butterscotch flavours. The palate is rich with luscious sweetness, balanced by acid, oak and alcohol.
Closing
The whites proved to be the most challenging in terms of scoring with a range of 3.0 – 5.4. With the McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant causing the greatest difficult with an average score of only 3 correct answers. While the reds were much closer spread of only 0.2.