4/25/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Black cherry, plum, touch of cherry liqueur. Spikily spicy on opening, intense, settled with air to show an array of spices. Little earth and mint. Ample length gets it over the line for 93, impressive spread of fine tannin, pleasing wash of acidity, smidge of alcohol heat keeps the balance from being outstanding. Impressive but didn’t set my heart racing.

4/24/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Gorgeous. Vanilla, lime, touch of peach, honeysuckle, smidge of grassiness. I’ve justifiably rated many whites far higher than this, but can’t remember the last white I thought was this hedonistically delicious. Some reds have been but can’t remember any whites. Enough length.

4/18/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Delicious light red. Red fruits, spice and grip. A multi-regional blend - Hilltops & Tumbarumba - and a blend of three grape varieties - Pinot Noir, Barbera & Nebbiolo. 90 or 91. Enjoyed at the winery on Mum's 80th birthday.

4/18/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Pleasant. Paraphrasing the label I'll say florals, grapefruit, stone fruit, wet stone minerality, texture. Enjoyed at the winery on Mum's 80th birthday.

4/20/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Florals, peach, lime, nutmeg. Restrained, and detailed.

4/19/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Wonderful. Raisins, wood varnish, dark chocolate, golden syrup, walnuts. Almost light for a port. Great balance and length. Opened on the occasion of Mum’s 80th (actually the day after) in honour of birthday girl.

4/19/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Funk, blackberry, deli meats, damp earth. Ample length. Superb. On the occasion of Mum’s 80th in honour of her 2010 vintage Kiwi granddaughter.

4/19/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Dark cherry, smudge of strawberry, mushroom,
Earthiness. Decent length. On the occasion of Mum’s 80th in honour of her 2012 Kiwi grandson.

4/17/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Peachy sweetness, lychees, missing the balancing acidity of younger bottles. Still enjoyable. On the occasion of Mum’s 80th, opened this in honour of her 2010 vintage granddaughters.

4/17/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

White flowers, green mango, lemon, slate. Lovely. Heaps of length. Celebrating Mum’s 80th, opened this one in honour of her two 2010 vintage granddaughters.

4/14/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Roast beef and blackberries. Yum. 91 or 92. I’d be drinking any remaining bottles of this inside the next year or two, wouldn’t wait the 20 from vintage suggested on the label.

4/9/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

The finish is the most striking aspect of this wine - the extraordinary length and spread of it. Nothing shabby about other aspects, pretty much picture perfect. White peach, lemon, cashew, nougat oak. Textured. Finish alone makes me tempted to score higher, can’t remember the last time I encountered such delightful persistence.

4/7/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Struck match, ripe lime, peach, poached chicken, little green olive. Sort of fine ground almond grip and texture. Heaps of length. 94 nudging 95.

4/6/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Opened the bottle at an early birthday celebration for this ‘73 vintage baby. A privilege to do so. Cork in good shape. Drinkable on opening, leathery and a bit porty, but tired quickly. No further notes or score. Still, again, a privilege to try.

4/6/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Still in great shape. Blackberries, mint + cigar box, and plenty of structure. No further notes or score, drank in restaurant after tasting the ‘73.

4/5/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Blackberry, plums. Little mint, deli meats. Medium weight, enough length. Good stuff. 91 or 92. Was going to apologise for the brevity, have a slight cold, but really what more do you need to know?

4/1/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Cherry, kirsch, plum. Leafiness, green beans. Sweet malty oak. Pleasant soft pillowy tannin. Had an inexplicable urge for Canberra region Cabernet today and this has cured me, as in, I doubt I will get that urge again any time soon, at least one from the recent cool and wet vintages. Strange wine. I feel at 84 I’m being generous, sort of a mix of scoring it as a drink (maybe higher) and scoring it as a Cabernet (probably lower). Possibly if you told me this was some wacky red blend I’d have liked it a *little* more. Poor value, and arguably shouldn’t have been released, will only damage the brand.

3/30/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Roast beef pan juices, blackberry, pepper, spice, still the violets of youth are there and then not. Steely threads of tannins, outstanding balance and length. Superb. I’ve sometimes wondered if it’s better to drink these Clonakilla SVs young as they are so good at that stage, but this bottle is an argument for being patient.

3/28/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Night one - half of bottle drunk over two hours.
Beguiling. Terrific. A shape shifter. Immediately appealing yet hugely complex. Big nose leaps out of the bottle immediately on cracking the screwcap. Roses, red liquorice, menthol. Juicy red and black currants. Plum. Eucalypt, acorns, a little crushed ants. Exquisite balance. Heaps of length. Threads of tannin spread, settle, and then chunk up. Medium bodied. 45% Cab Sauv, 35% Malbec, 20% Shiraz.
95 or better.
My first Wendouree, so forgive the gush.
Night two - feels like the Shiraz has come to the party. Rich berries and currants, meatiness, and mushrooms. Complexity, balance, and length all outstanding. Could go 96.

2/26/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Red and black currants. Dusty grippy tannin. Little tomato bush. Quite enjoyable.

2/21/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Plum, blackberry, milk chocolate, black savoury elements. Talcy grip and length. Almost porty warmth but exactly how I wanted it this evening with a smoked tomahawk.

2/11/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

White pepper. Ripe black and blue fruits. A tomato bush character which adds interest. Smudge of lacy silty tannin tidies it up. 90 or better.

2/9/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

This is gorgeous. I’ve no idea if it is typical of the grape. Raspberry and blueberry to the fore. Little dried herbs and earth. Acid backbone, fine yet grainy tannin. Ample length.

2/4/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Toasty nose. Lemongrass and lanolin. Superb body and balance and length. Outstanding Hunter semillon.

2/2/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Huge nose leading with white flowers and nectarine. Then peach, apple, lemon, a saline green olive touch, little grilled nuts. Prominent acid spine. Waft of chalky dustiness. Ample length. This is like a regular Hoddles Creek Estate Chardonnay with all the dials turned up to 11 especially pleasure. Outstanding chardy.

1/28/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

BlackBerry, mulberry, touch of jubiness. Spice and white pepper. Deli meat savouriness. Powdery talc tannin spreads on finish. Lovely, and enough length for the score.

1/25/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Apple, lime, steel, purity, light spritz, heaps of length. Might be underscoring.

1/20/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Cherry, black plum, blueberry, little raisin. The Heathcote Shiraz iodine-to-blood. Grip. Ample length. 89 or 90 but some heat on the finish makes me plump for the former.

1/7/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Surprisingly pleasant drink in a Shiraz 101 way - jubey red fruit, plums, milk chocolate - a bit too much raspberry cordial even for that categorisation - and some leafiness is out of place and detracts somewhat.

1/7/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Red and some jubey black fruits. Dry as. Very good drink.

1/6/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Appealing and a joy to drink. More fruit forward than most other Hoddles Pinot vintages, at least to my recollection. Strawberry, cherry, touch of blackberry. Twiggyness and some green herbs. Smattering of grainy tannin. Ample length. Touch and go for 93.

1/1/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Raspberry, plum, milk chocolate, powdery tannin. 89 or 90 but the seasonal mood is generosity.

1/1/2024 - Avid Wino wrote:

Rich dark McLaren Vale Shiraz goodness. Plum, cherry, dark chocolate, meat, black pepper, more besides.

12/31/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Lime, white flowers. Bath salts. So soft, where’s the acidity?

12/25/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Dark berries, fresh and dried herbs, pepper, oak. A touch green.

12/25/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Red fruits, spice, peppercorn, touch of wood and green. Lovely with ample length.

12/25/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Apple, brioche, lime meringue. Enough length.

12/17/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

A cool season TSG and so for this vintage the pleasure is in the detail more than the usual generosity. Blueberry, blackberry, earth, stalkiness, pepper, spice. Lighter than usual. Smudge of talc fine tannin, excellent balance, enough length.

12/16/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Rubber, mandarin, apple. Quite a lot of colour in the glass, like slightly diluted apple juice. More developed than I’d expect from a two year old. Pleasure to be had, but challenging, even for this lover of aged Riesling.

12/10/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Apple, mandarin, lime. Little tropical fruit and ginger. Sweet pretty much from start to finish. Great summertime drink, dare I say it especially for those who are more accustomed to fruity cocktails and such. Really difficult for me to score, could be a couple of points higher for some, or a few points lower. I scored more on length and complexity than balance, the latter would have it lower.

12/9/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Enjoyed at the Nick O’Leary Heywood restaurant. Drinking (actually mostly eating!) not thinking so notes don’t scratch the surface. Roast beef juices, barely ripe black fruit, leather, white pepper. Powdery slightly drying tannin.

12/2/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

I am hopeless with chardy descriptors. Peach and apple pie. Brown spices. Lime. Good drop. Ample length.

11/25/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Cherry, blackberry, smudges of sweet black tea, liquorice. Grippy talc fine tannin. Medium bodied. 89 or 90 but joy/pleasure gets it over the line.

11/24/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Really enjoyed drinking this, can’t remember the last wine I had that was so insistently smashable, it’s been a while…. Could be that I was more susceptible in this particular Friday evening. Don’t ask me for specifics. I’ll quote the label “lifted violets, red fruits, ripe cherry and gentle spice yield to a palate of dark plums, sweet fleshy tannins, and a long resonant finish” to which I would only add there’s ripe blueberry in the mix too, and roast beef meatiness after a couple of hours of air. Enough length.

11/19/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Label says lime and length, fennel and finesse, which is nicely poetic and pretty much true - I’d say the length is adequate rather than notable. Superbly delicious with fantastic purity of flavour, as is invariably the way with Mount Majura Riesling, but not the length and intensity for higher points - maybe I’m in a hard scoring mood tonight.

11/17/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Black and red fruits, juicy. Floral notes, iodine. Fleshy grippy tannin.

11/12/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Nectarine, lime, melon, minerality. Great to drink at the end of a 33 degree day. 89 or 90.

11/10/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Intense lemon, touch of lanolin and body. Bone dry. Some spritz on opening, first impression is flat solo without any sugar. Right up my alley but merely adequate length and drive holds it back from higher points. 90 or 91.

11/4/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Lime and grassiness mostly. Some soap and lanolin. Outstanding purity and excellent length.

11/3/2023 - Avid Wino wrote:

Raspberry, red and black confectionary, spice and black pepper, furry ferrous finish of adequate length. Good nay excellent drop.