1/27/2024 - aChave wrote:

This bottle was quite lovely… smooth and round fruit with some nice acid in a supporting role. Tasty and alive!

1/28/2024 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

There’s some nice fragrance here, like a good Thai curry has, but it’s still a warm climate wine, even in a cool vintage.

It’s dense, and thick; texture like a modern Reserva Rioja. But this will age in a different way, becoming more classic Aussie Shiraz.

But now it’s a complex young wine. Complexity from oak and the blend of Barossa Cabernet and Shiraz. I was about to check the % but this secret release has no label.

11/7/2022 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

Flavoursome Chardonnay. The oak is toasty to burnt, gives a savoury character.

13% (seems higher), screwcap.

5/21/2023 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

Very surprisingly easy to drink now. 7 years of age is often an awkward time for Bordeaux. The tannins are so soft (but substantial). And the acidity mild, matching the restained alcohol.

Yes I’d prefer a bit more intensity, a bit more Margaux/Pauillac brightness but….it’s hard to tell off a wine for being young and charming (though I’ve seen critics do it).

Is this 1985 again? The charming vintage that aged so well too?

4/8/2023 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

Deep. Touch burnt but there is refreshing Bordeaux acidity.

In some ways it seems rustic, but it’s also clearly well made. A rustic sophisticate?

It’s St Estephe definitely, quite different from, say, Margaux. They say St Estephe does particularly well in hot vintages. I don’t know but this isn’t obviously 2009, it doesn’t have the opulence seen in some Pauillacs for instance. Though there is a touch of syrup about it.

Still youthful. Dark. Strong.

9/4/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

This wine has developed remarkably since first tried some months ago. Musk and some lime and lemon come through on the nose. The palate up is remarkably rich and approachable for such a young wine. The residual sugar gives it a Moselle like character that is very appealing both as an aperitif and with food. A mouth filling wine made for current drinking. This will develop a little further and reasonably quickly. Great value for money and well worth a case purchase.

8/9/2020 - bordeauxman777 Likes this wine:

Excellent CDR with a great potential. Still a bit young, but dinks well. Lovely wine.

5/16/2022 - rwpalmer wrote:

A fresher bottle than the last. Grapefruit, wax, lanolin nose. Rich but not flabby. Fresh yet soft finish. Delicious.

11/5/2021 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

Another 4 days later (again from little “airline bottle” filled from the original 750ml ).

Lots of flavour. Unmistakably Sauvignon. Still a bit raw, oak a bit raspy, quite intense acid.

3/4/2017 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

Full credit to Petaluma for keep this wine back at the winery and releasing 2004 first. This has gained a good deal from cellaring. No cigar-box Bordeaux complexity yet, but then it isn't really old wine.

Good stuff.

13.5% ABV, sealed with cork.

10/29/2018 - rwpalmer wrote:

Well made, light rather herbal Bordeaux interpretation.

3/15/2020 - Marc wrote:

Outstanding and very classy. Herbal, with a distinct green pepper streak which beautifully complements the fruit. Classic tannic structure, very much in line with Bordeaux, as is the overall weight of the wine. The fruit quality is certainly not that of Bordeaux, being more herbaceous, and just slightly less dense. Very impressive. No hurry on the last bottle at all..

3/30/2018 - majamke Likes this wine:

A restrained Voyager this vintage. Plum, gravel, pencil shavings and mint dark chocolate on the finish. Fine web of graphite tannins. Well balanced, with a lot more secondary development to come. I wouldn't expect the score to improve though. Probably at peak now before the fruit starts to fade further.

5/13/2013 - Lewis C wrote:

Dark ruby, limpid with bright hue. Nose is black currant with minty, green notes and hints of development via cedar and pencil shaving over-tones. Medium body, medium alcohol, medium+ acidity , medium+ tannin (ripe). Palate is distinctly sweet black fruits making the wine rather quaffable but lacking in complexity and finesse. The finish is medium+ length but still too sweet to work well with savoury food. Good quality, still developing but unlikely to improve markedly with bottle age. Score: 89

3/22/2018 - Softie Likes this wine:

Fascinating to see some of my favourite reviewers commenting on this wine: Professor, GM and Alex Garner.

I'm most in Prof's corner - and he liked it, with cavets - nice wine but a tad short on body ['dilute']. Pretty much everything else is there - as one can deem from the reviews of GM and Alex: berry good flavours [excuse me?], silky tannins, solid and not over done acid, overall balanced (body aside).

In good shape. No signs of tiredness - how could it at 8 years, from Margaret River and under Stelvin [cork be damned!]. Yet I feel no confidence extra age will add complexity given the under-done body; I hope I'm wrong :-)

4/22/2019 - Tannatastic Does not like this wine:

Really not enjoying this wine at all.

The 'evolution' the company claims to be following seems to be towards a wine that the rest of the world tried and mostly discarded and that I'd hoped we were seeing the back of.

Very polished and glossy, it has badly integrated alcohol, and much darker (as opposed to red) fruit profile, and at this early stage of it's life doesn't really show off the oak regimen much (it is meant to be Rioja, and high quality stuff, after all).

We assumed the acidity might match food, specifically lamb, because Rioja was made for roast lamb. It didn't.

My earlier criticisms of this wine still stand. For the company to compare it to the 2001 is ludicrous in my opinion. It's been clear since the 2001 vintage that there has been a slow-evolution in style of Ardanza, but the earlier changes were liveable, and still added to the whole. If this represents the end destination of the process, then I can only agree with other fans of LRA such as Harley1199 and MacauJames that it isn't a wine I recognise (it is more reminiscent of full bodied Ribeiro del Duero), and that the Alberdi 2010 is significantly superior.

I lament having bought so many, and will be more circumspect with future Ardanza purchases, as its no longer a wine I recognise.

10/27/2018 - SlimShaney Likes this wine:

Dialled down the Viogner. Gorgeous in a warm year. If a little herbaceous and carnivorous too.

11/8/2017 - jaimetown Likes this wine:

This was a pretty good bottle of Bordeaux - dark fruited, a little tobacco, slightly saline, medium-bodied claret. A civilized glass of wine, very easy to drink (pop and pour). Purchased at my local Wegmans (of all places!) and drinking very well today.

10/1/2017 - RajivAyyangar wrote:

James Suckling - Great Wines of the Andes (The Presidio, SF): 69% cabernet sauvignon, 24% carmenere, 5% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot.
Even though there's no Malbec, this smells like Malbec. Ripe black fruit and green weedy plum. But then the palate hits with lots of vanilla spice and a polished impressive finish. Ripe structure. Feels like it has some RS but that could be ripeness and oak. Big. Plush. Not my favorite style, but a good example.

2/17/2017 - rwpalmer wrote:

I was astonished how prettily red and bright the colour was on this bottle. Red fruit too on the nose with some pleasant secondary flavours as well though really at the start of its drinking window. Moderate intensity. Long on the palate. Quality tannins. No more than medium weight. Years of life left if this bottle gives a fair indication.

3/3/2017 - ProfByron wrote:

Goodness.... it's almost like a 'natural wine'. Complex aromas, old socks are in there, so is some almost burnt ripeness. It's not a blowsy wine, it has well balanced acidity on a medium framework. Quite oily. And flavours that aren't in the white peach or green melon spectrum... something else, perhaps apricot, no that's not quite right.

Hmm, a wine to polarise (or just scare) your guests?

Drink now... who knows what it might do with cellaring, probably not good.
13.5% ABVm sealed with cork.

1/5/2012 - azzah wrote:

Gave this a good decant before drinking but it's still too young, the fruit not really yet revealing itself. There a pluminess to the wine, with other red fruits and a nice spice on the back palate (along with a certain cardboardiness?). Certainly not my favourite 09 Burgundy, but it will be interesting to see where this goes over time.

12/26/2016 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

Complex oddity. At first the brett seems too much, but after a day or two after opening (in half bottle, filled to the top) the wine has fattened. Complex, interesting. I imagine this wine will offend as many people as it captivates. I look forward to seeing what I think about the next bottle.

12.5%ABV (yes that's what the label says). Sealed with cork.

10/11/2016 - deejay81 Likes this wine:

Clear, bright straw yellow, the colour showing well for a 7 year old. Honey, lemons, red apples, and a little bit of Vegemite on toast. In the mouth it was similar but definitely a cleaner less "dirty socks" taste compared to the 07 Elizabeth. I'd noticed that the 07 Elizabeth and Lovedale had a slight CO2 spritz to it, whether it was added or just part of the wine making I'm not sure, but the 09 Elizabeth did not have that, nor do I think it needed it, as it was still very fresh and had good acid to go with it.
The finish was medium plus. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I think you could drink this confidently for 5-10years.

1/27/2016 - winoman1 Likes this wine:

I rushed this one...

Very classic and well balanced - many things going on each blending into each other. Definite full black-fruit nose and palate, not too heavy, and well rounded by a small percentage of Merlot which seems to go the perfect distance in this wine. A bit of smoke a bit of cocoa, dusty - PERFUMED.

The minor cedary element shakes things up just a little to keep it interesting...i'm only an hour and 1/2 and 3/4 of a bottle in to this. I shall return!!

..i'm glad I did that!

DAY 2 : Far more tertiary - blend of sweet and savoury. Dark black cherry, double salted liquorice, and mint jelly. The TAR content making this almost medicinal before food. Will hold onto this one but unsure of cellaring capacity.

7/20/2015 - Glukic wrote:

94 James Halliday

2/15/2013 - graemeg wrote:

2013 Sydney Royal Wine Show - Exhibitor's Tasting & Trophy Wines Lunch (homebush & Darling Harbour): [Gold medal] {screwcap, 14.5%} Gentle strawberry fruits nurture peaty earth. Berries and sandy soils blend together. The palate is wonderfully fine-grained, with pure light red fruits of great intensity but not size, and fresh acidity forming a medium-bodied wine with great evenness of presence along the tongue. Dry and balanced, it culminates in a long contemplative finish. This is a really classy wine that hides its alcohol very well indeed, and avoids excess oakiness as well. A class act in every respect.

8/6/2015 - ProfByron Likes this wine:

This is a fine wine that hints at how great it will be, but that will take another decade.

It's just leaving its primary stage! With an acidic finish that says wait wait wait.

3/16/2015 - pavel_p Likes this wine:

5th bottle in fairly regular intervals since 2011. While I tend to like my Bordeaux more on the mature side, i.e. the better wines from top vintages around the 20-30 year mark, the 04s and 08s teach me that smaller wines from average vintages might be a different story. Sure this is a nice Bordeaux that works well with a meal and even on its own but am not convinced that what the wine has gained over the last 4-5 years fully compensates for what it lost. Miss a bit the great balance and the sweet clear fruit this showed in 2011 and wish there was a bit more fruit to balance the ever more prominent leather, and the rather short finish is also more evident now. Horses for courses.

2/2/2015 - rwpalmer wrote:

Stupendous wine. Beautiful nose of orange blossom and so much more. Weight and lightness on the palate at the same time. Perfectly judged touch of sweetness. Acidity tamer than some vintages, but none the worse for it.

3/21/2015 - rwpalmer wrote:

From magnum. Still almost purple. Nose of plum and spice. Almost mono-lithic. A tiny hint of heat. Power and length. More force than elegance. This bottle seemed closer to the beginning than the end of its drinking window.

4/18/2015 - rwpalmer wrote:

Deep but not especially bright. Little in the way of browning. Nose is smoky, a little capsicum but also some nice blackcurrant--but lurking rather than obvious. No sweet generosity to this--it doesn't scream of being from a great vintage. "Classical" maybe. Perhaps in an in-between phase. Not especially secondary--just fading fruit. Still rather hard going on day two.

6/28/2014 - Comte Flaneur wrote:

A beautifully crafted wine. Quite shy on the nose but it has a superb palate, which is as smooth as velvet, but grippy and discreetly powerful at the same time. It finishes long and luxuriously. Much better than the 2006.

9/4/2014 - Patrick - winereviewer.com.au wrote:

This is a wonderful release from an exceptional producer in the Yarra Valley. As a wine it was difficult to put into words how balanced and textured it is and still do it justice.

The wine gives a glossy dark red hue in the glass, with the nose benefiting from the aromatic lift of Viognier that gives a floral note to the plum and sweetly spiced experience.

The wine unravels in layers with a perceived lightness, yet the palate is brimming with wonderfully integrated raspberry and plum fruits. The quality of oak in this wine can't be underplayed with the gentle hand giving superb structure and lingering spices to finish.

A remarkably good wine.
Review Link - www.winereviewer.com.au (drink from 2014-2029)

1/3/2015 - ProfByron Does not like this wine:

I was looking forward to this wine but it turned out that I did not like it.

Nose quite muted. Palate quite interesting, warm, spicy, though age is bringing out prune character. After which the spirit like finish dominates. Alcohol burn, not pleasant. I think it is a fault for a wine to taste of alcohol, and when it is unpleasant there can be no argument.

The label says 15% ABV but I suspect it may be higher. Robert Parker wrote "tipping the scales at just over 15% alcohol and actually coming a few tenths of a degree within the 2003 and 2005 in terms of power and alcoholic degrees". He gave it 95 points!

Drink during Winter, preferably a cold night. Don't age any longer.

11/14/2014 - ProfByron wrote:

Very very austere. Finely crafted, sophisticated, but the fruit core is now gone. Also no greenness, I suspect they tried too hard to overcome this. There are better 2002 Medocs that embraced the vintage's slightly green but intense Cabernet Sauvignon.

I hold out no hope that this will blossom in future years.

12/18/2013 - RobertDwyer wrote:

So here we are at 8 years in and I've popped the last bottle of this I have. Sadly it's probably less enjoyable now than it was on release. Too many of these affordable 2005 Bordeaux are clogging up my storage space and I've lost patience.

7/23/2014 - rwpalmer wrote:

Still deep coloured and evolving slowly. I am more optimistic than my first tasting in 2011 that this will continue to develop nicely over a number of years.

8/31/2014 - rwpalmer wrote:

Nose of blueberries, blackberries and mushroom. Colour still quite deep. Refined palate. quite full but also soft and long. For a cab franc based wine this is so interesting and relating to similar bordeaux blends in neither taste nor profile.

9/2/2014 - ProfByron Does not like this wine:

Too much oak.

cork. 14%

3/10/2012 - gripNsip wrote:

Some friends and I drank this wine over dinner last night. Everyone said they enjoyed it but it was agreed upon that overall it was fairly boring. Maybe we didn't give it enough time to open. My thoughts on it were that while it was a little boring, it had no edges and was very easy to drink. Elegant and correct. It is a pretty wine, like a pretty girl, but one that if you passed on the street you probably wouldn't even notice.

3/25/2014 - rwpalmer wrote:

Much paler than the 2007 petillant. Extraordinarily Chablis-like in its linear palate and mineral impressions. Dry and refreshing, but so beautifully balanced with any residual sugar undetectable.

5/9/2014 - rwpalmer wrote:

Deep colour and a wonderful nose with residual cassis fruit with smoke and balanced oak also in evidence. Medium weight. Smooth tannins. At a nice stage of maturity but 5+ years of life left.

4/22/2014 - edub7 wrote:

Vibrant scarlett rim and deep dark core. Floral nose, Margaux like. Wine is refreshing classic, old school, with some finesse and structure, very well made and impeccable balance. Excellent purity, vibrant red fruit, spring flowers, and smokey black cherries. Wine starts to unfold nicely, but opens and shuts down over a four hour period via the decanter. This wine is great and some will like it now because of its early appeal, however this wine will reward with some time in the cellar. Capable of evolving for the next 15-20 years, I suspect it would be best to hold for another 2-5 years. I have a case left, will try not open one for another 2-3 years, at the least. Suspect 4-7 years will be an early sweet spot. 93+ -should rate higher with time. Tasted several times with consistent notes.

3/22/2014 - mychurch wrote:

Jelle Comes to Visit for the Weekend; 3/21/2014-3/23/2014 (Leiden and Rotterdam): Bought while on holiday in Malaysia a long time ago, this is a lovely example of Auz cool climate shiraz. It did not have the power of the Armagh, but there was a bit more poise and class. Lovely red fruit and eucalyptus this was the better wine of the 2. Started to dry out after a few hours though and not sure if thats a sign that it needs drunk up, or a sign of the initial transport. Very hard to find in Europe and a real treat.

12/29/2013 - rwpalmer wrote:

Initially one-dimensional and not especially intense. Seemingly a poor cousin of the explosive 2009 recently consumed. But 2 days later under vacuvin we enjoyed an incredibly complex wine whose flavours tingled and evolved on every sniff. This is primarily in the citrus, passionfruit and stone fruit spectrum, but it does also have rounder notes of botrytis and nuts, along with a refined dollop of high class coconut oak. It hides its c140g/l sugar extremely well in a sleek palate. This should evolve slowly into a classic.