2/23/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

In 1993, I was lucky enough to be given a bottle of this fortified shiraz from the late Chris Killeen from his family’s “bond store” - an odd free-standing old red brick building located near the cellar door on the Stanton and Killeen property just west of the township of Rutherglen. I remember Chris speaking fondly of this vintage, of the wine’s calibre, its amazing freshness and of the considerable way it still had to go (i.e. develop/mature) in the bottle. Some years later I opened that bottle and, not surprisingly, found the contents to be precisely as Chris had predicted.

So it was with great anticipation I purchased another bottle of this possible nectar from auction a few months ago for the princely (sic) sum of $19 (plus a small buyer’s fee). And when opened, what a wine it (still) is. Decanted at 5 p.m. last Saturday and drunk many hours later with members of my local wine tasting group, this wine makes some radical statements about the region and this period in fortified wine history. Namely, the quality of vintage fortified (dare not I mention the word “port”) from Rutherglen and from this era is generally nothing short of spectacular. Over the last year I have tried this wine style using a variety of red grapes (including some of Portuguese origin) from this amazing wine region made by Lindemans (1967), All Saints (1965, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972), Chambers (1971, 1972), Campbells (1965, 1972) and now this Stanton and Killeen from 1972. The 1972 Campbells took out my WOTY award for the highest pointed wine in 2011. I rate the ‘72 S&K VP as good, perhaps even a tad better! Most of the above mentioned VP’s scored well above 90 points in my official rating with many sitting around or above 95. (Please try and remember I do not hand out such high scores with gay abandon). This feat almost defies logic and boggles my brain as, not only have all been purchased from unknown previous owners and of uncertain provenance, but never in my lifetime to date have I scored so many wines similar in style and of such considerable age at such consistently high ratings. “But that’s what port is all about”, I hear the cynics cry. But compare this performance to the supposed legendary fortifieds of Portugal and even the great names from McLaren Vale and I promise you the same consistency over so many vintages listed above does not apply anywhere to the same degree.

So this wine will take some considerable beating in my wine of the year awards and if it does get pipped, whatever does the pipping will be well worth the experience! Without waxing lyrical, the Stanton & Killeen Gracerray 1972 Vintage Port fully deserves the 97 point rating I awarded it last Saturday night. To date, the only wine I have rated higher here is the phenomenal 1975 Chateau d’Yquem at 98 points. So my most humble thanks to Chris Killen all those years ago, may he continue to rest in peace, knowing what joy he, his forbears and hopefully, his descendants, have and will bring to those who sample these wonderful fortifieds from the winery of Stanton and Killeen.

2/27/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

With tarte tatin and a variety of ice creams including a gorgeous passionfruit gelato, we opened Ch. Climens 1986 - the best showing of this wine to date. Boasting a gorgeous and still relatively youthful light orange/apricot/gold colour this remarkably elegant but complex sweet wine hit all the right buttons for most of us at the table last night. There’s an almost enigmatic quality of this wine being so delicate, feminine and uniformly classy yet holding an intriguing core of reserved power and guaranteed extended longevity. The aromas and flavours here are a corncopia of pear, apricot, caramel, almond, coconut, baking spices (more cinammon, perhaps a wee twist or hint of nutmeg) and a gorgeous burnt orange character at the end. Needless to say, this was my wine of the night. With a nauseatingly slow development curve to date, stunning structure holding linear acidity and marvellous astringency from the finest French oak, this Sauternes will bring great joy to anyone who has access to well-cellared examples for perhaps another two decades. 95

2/27/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Things were very much on the improve with the next wine as we moved into mains (my contribution for the evening) of an old fashioned Sunday roast lamb with roast vegetables and blanched green string beans. Chateau Leoville-Barton 1986 is an outstanding claret that has finally hit its straps. Although it could do with several years careful cellaring for the last of those considerable tannins to resolve, this terrific red is showing remarkably well-defined and delineated classy left-bank aromas and flavours of damp earth, autumn leaves, forest floor, incredible deepset black fruit, with traces of creosote, road tar and French herbs. Structurally, the wine retains a degree of freshness and vitality with softening, integrated acidity and a resolute but melting tannin regime that only needs a few more years to be nigh on perfect. Add wonderful length and breadth of palate and you have a winner - 93+ points.

2/27/2012 - David Lole wrote:

Domaine Fourrier’s 1996 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint Jacques followed and I was somewhat disappointed. Still holding a relatively healthy red brick colour this wine’s aromatics were first class from start to finish, however the palate was unready with eventual shrill acidity spoiling the finish. There’s plenty to like about this wine but, seemingly, it needs a lot more time for the palate to come around. 5 to 10 years I reckon! 84(?) points

2/27/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Kooyong’s 2005 Estate is a freakish wine that still had considerable time to go in the bottle. Its youthful pale straw colour, complex barrel fermet and cool climate varietal fruit provide exciting, fresh and vigorous aromas and flavours with plenty of acidity keeping things zippy on the palate. The balance between fruit and barrel is exemplary and the wine possesses a near faultless line and sensational carry. Walk-in 94 pointer from my perspective. Drink now - 2017.

2/27/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Next with savoury crepes (filled with crispy smoky bacon, fetta cheese, rocket and topped with maple syrup and a balsamic glaze - an amazingly impressive combo!) I poured the remnants of a Hugel 1988 Gewutztraminer SDGN - chocka-block full of lychee, rose-hip, exotic spices and candied apricot with high acidity that tapered the high residual sugar normally found in this very late-picked style. For such an old wine to hold in the fridge for 24 hours and remain ultimately drinkable was no mean feat. About 91 points last night - I rated at 93 the night before.

2/27/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

For aperitif we drank Pol Roger Chardonnay Brut 1996, still remarkably fresh and zesty with copious quantities of citrus and melon fruit, pastry shop smells alongside the most gorgeous digestive biscuit character. Frighteningly good persistent acidity, wonderful swirling mousse on a interminably long finish. Fantastic start. I thought it worthy of 94 points and a drinking window of up to 5 years.

2/27/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

(Bottle no. 1151)

Gorgeous and still relatively youthful colour with only a little gradation of colour in the outer edge. Stunning nose holding concentrated raspberry and dark cherries with hints of crushed ferrous rocks, wood smoke, spicy oak and tar with some roses/violets way off in the distance. Assertive well-endowed palate although beginning to drink very well today, especially with plenty of air time, with spirited acidity giving ample support to firm, melting tannins under a wealth of fruit mimicking that found in the bouquet. A well-balanced, superior nebbiolo from a very fine producer with another decade of cellaring prospects. 93 points. Drink now - 2022+. 13.5% A/V

3/5/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Another vintage (unfairly dissed by many over the years) that I’m still drinking and enjoying with many continuing to hang in there very well indeed. Advanced pinkish/rusty outer egde but holds a solid red/brick red core. Extremely seductive, mature bouquet bearing almost an ethereal mix of red plum, raspberry, sweet earth, lots of pinot sap, some hung game, a trace of forest floor, beetroot and a hint of mushroom followed by a svelte, slippery palate of only light- to medium-body, some terrific slick sappy red fruit, good acidity levels and very decent softening tannins in a longish departure marked by an attractive earthy/forest floor aftertaste. Plenty to like about this. Excellent red burg. Drink before 2018. 90 points. 13.5% A/V

3/5/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

This luscious golden-coloured riesling is probably as ready as it ever will be, not that it will fall over tomorrow. But if you have any, I sincerely recommend you think of opening it sooner than later. I last tried tried this wine several years ago and thought it a little fat and almost ready with only low/moderate acidity levels holding things together. Today, that acidity has all but disappeared and we now have a wine brimming with thick texture, copious quantities of honey, ripe peach, baked apple tart, spicy apricot, passionfruit, pineapple, redcurrant as well as some petrol characters to be found in the bouquet and on the palate. It’s very classy and fills the mouth with unctious flavour, good carry and decent length without any annoying cloy or flabbiness although I admit to holding fading confidence on how long the correct balance will remain. I’m giving it 90 points. Drink now. 7.5% A/V. Excellent fill level and from my passive but cool cellar (having been purchased direct from the Australian importer).

4/7/2012 - David Lole wrote:

Holds a surprising youthful pale straw hue, a bouquet resplendent in its complex mix of nutty barrel characters, hints of flint and struck match with subtle undertones of pear, green melon and a hint of citrus. From memory, this is not far away from the place where this wine wine was sitting many moons ago. Unfortunately, the palate is fractionally short, but does have the requisite quantities and balance of fruit and barrel influence to rate as very good. This is a wine of two halves. A shame the palate does not deliver quite what the nose promised. Drink now.

3/10/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Nineteen-eighty-eight is a somewhat unheralded year for left-bank Bordeaux reds and although I’ve yet to try one that compares to the greatest wine’s of Bordeaux’s hyped vintages such as 1982, 1986 and 1990, I’m continually and pleasantly surprised at the drinkability and staying power this vintage produces.

Boasting a saturated, albeit mature, rusty red colour, this wine opens with strong damp earth nuances that are gradually replaced with attractive scents of cedar, cigar box, saddle leather, a compote of underpinning aged red and black berry fruit, typical left-bank herbaceousness and a meaty top note. In the mouth it reveals a mature and similarly complex persona, being fully resolved with fruit, acids and tannins seamlessly integrated and in fine balance. Medium-bodied with an appealing almost creamy texture, the 1988 Talbot finishes with appropriate class and demeanour with a lengthy, ripe and soft conclusion to a admirable drinking experience. 91 points Drink now - 2015. 12.5% A/V

4/8/2012 - David Lole wrote:

Prompted by a reader on my website/wineblog, I tried another bottle last night and was very disappointed! Similar in style to my recent tasting note but lacked the fruit, fleshiness and sexiness of the first bottle reviewed. Barely “good” and a maximum of 80 points and verging on “passed it”.

3/10/2012 - David Lole wrote:

This delightfully elegant and sumptuous red burg is probably at the peak of its powers delivering a gorgeously-wrought bouquet of freshly-turned wet earth, forest floor, sap, bing cherry, plum and porcini. The palate reveals a pure, silky entry abounding with excellent ripe, mature dark plum and red cherry fruit, understated integrated savoury oak with just the right amount of freshness and lift from decent acidity followed by soft, furry tannins on a long, svelte finish. For those pinotphiles seeking sexy, soft and sensual burgundy, this is for you. With a few years superior drinking to be had, this wine is worthy of an outstanding rating of 91 points. The alcohol rating on the bottle is a very low 12%!

Please refer to a subsequent tasting note - **** note bottle variation ****

3/15/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

I thought it would be difficult to surpass the 1972 Stanton and Killeen Vintage Port (97 points) tried last month but this phenomenal offering almost did it in spades. Boasts the darkest saturated colour imaginable for a wine of 44 years age followed by an extraordinary bouquet of dusty licorice, cassis and anise that leapt from glass begging you to go back to it time and time again. Lift from perfectly-judged brandy spirit added the final touch to a perfect olfactory experience. In the mouth this is a tour de force of sweet fortified winemaking. Massively concentrated with flavours mimicking those found in the bouquet and blessed with sensational line and delineation, this amazing wine flows through the mouth like silk, filling every part of the mouth with richness and mind-boggling complexity, finally tapered by glorious, subtle astringency only the very best fortifieds can produce. As long as the night and boasting a finish of unmitigated beauty, this stunning, incredibly fresh and rivetting example surpasses my ultimate Aussie VP’s of all time - the Hardy’s 1956 Museum Release Vintage Port, the 1967 Lindemans Classic Release Vintage Port Bin 3642, the Hardy’s 1975 Museum Release Vintage Port, the Stanton & Killeen mentioned above and Campbell’s 1972 Braeburn Vintage Port (my wine of the year for 2011!). Drink for as long as you’re alive.

N.B. Alcohol not stated on bottle, probably 18.5% and sourced from two old single site vineyards in Corowa, NSW, just north of the more famous Rutherglen region.

3/15/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Without a doubt, the best WA Shiraz I’ve ever tried, with this bottle in perfect condition and drinking better than any of the many I’ve tried before. Wonderful complex sweet berried fruit has now taken over and the brazen oak of yesteryear has fully integrated, now playing a quite sensational second fiddle. This has everything you’re looking for in a maturing world class dry red wine - balance, finesse - controlled underlying power with incredible strains of delicacy and subtlety (the old iron fist in a velvet glove cliche.) Couple this with the finest structure and awesome length and you have an absolute joy to drink. Drink now - 2020. 95

3/15/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

A brilliant wine - fully mature and holding beautifully - smells like a formidable claret from a top year and just happens to almost taste like one too. Outstanding Coonawarra cabernet with magnificent poise and complexity, great structure and terrific length. A wonderful Coonawarra vintage now, thankfully, mainly forgotten and ignored. Drink now. 93 and of a very similar standard to the other bottle I opened a few weeks later. From a very good cellar.

3/15/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Gorgeous purple/black colour, massive fine aggressive beading, attractive aromatics and palate, jam-packed with rich, ripe black fruits, thankfully not overly sweet with excellent persistence and a friendly mildly tannic finish. Drink now - 2018+. Up there with the likes of the E&E in quality. 92

3/15/2012 - David Lole wrote:

Still elemental with a long, long way to travel. Pristine, undeveloped unoaked Hunter semillon aromatics of straw, minerals, sunlight soap and preserved lemons followed by a stunning palate structure with bracing acidity and incredible length but with similar steely shy fruit underneath. A waste of time drinking this now if you have any idea on how (good) it will/should look in a decade. Great potential, but in a very awkward stage at present. 88+

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Opened at great friends’, Bill and Marg Beasley’s daughter’s 40th birthday party last night. Jaw-dropping, sensationally fresh with plum, chocolate but mostly licorice fruit abounding and buttressed by awesome structure and mouth-cleansing, but remarkably balanced, astringency. Long as the night. Up there with best of them. An absolute joy to behold, sniff and drink. 95

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

A recent bottle opened was lighter and significantly more developed than this bottle I opened in Sydney last night. A gorgeously seductive, still fresh Coonawarra classic here with some considerable development to come. 93

4/7/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

A wonderfully opulent, sweetly fruited (as against “sweet”) sparkling red chock-a-block of Barossa “goodness” at this stage, swallowing up plenty of savoury/vanilla oak . If you like the style this is one of the best releases of all time and compares favourably with the better examples of Seppelt Great Western or Leasingham Classic Clare I’ve tried in the past. 93

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Remarkably underdeveloped bright straw colour. Pure and invigorating pithy grapefruit dominates the superior bouquet and palate with hints of lime and apple in support. Marvellous linear attack in the mouth with bracing mineral acidity providing the perfect foil to a brilliantly poised but focussed Australian classic riesling. Drinking incredibly well now but somehow I detect this will only get better in the medium term. Fantastic cellaring prospect. Exceptional. 95

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Another wonderful Rutherglen example full of sweet earth, licorice but not in the class of the Stanton & Killeen or All Saints from the same (most excellent) vintage. Looks old in the glass but smells and tastes a lot fresher. 91

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Burnished gold colour, surprisingly low in alcohol but unctiously sweet with decadent extraction levels redolent with apricot, caramel, peaches, almond meal, honey and sweet baking spices. Beguiling minerailty in a distinguished mouthfilling departure of great length. Almost comparable to a fully blown, high calibre Sauternes just without the oak. This paired very well with a sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. Although the colour is a bit of a worry, I expect this wine will hold until the end of the decade. 94

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

My last bottle. In terrific condition and drinking superbly. Quintessential Coonawarra with an array of complex aromas and flavours. A case of the whole being substantially greater than sum of the parts. Leafiness, wet earth, cigar box, herbs, capsicum, weedy blackcurrant, hints of creosote, road tar, old leather, iodine, even a bit sweaty saddle! Quite thrilling in the mouth with great moutfeel, plenty of fruit and wonderful integrated savoury oak backing, a terrific line followed by a smooth but resolute finish wrapped in a shroud of cleansing acidity and soft, cuddly tannin. Outstanding bordering on exceptional. 94 points and also worth noting the alcohol level is around 12% (sorry, I forgot to jot down the exact percentile).

4/1/2012 - David Lole wrote:

Made for Toolangi by Rick Kinsbrunner at Giaconda. Youthful starbright straw gold colour. Worked funky barrel characters on the nose followed by a powerfully oaked palate in full throttle mould with slightly underdone peach, melon and fig fruit underneath. Big, almost astringent, alcoholic finish with lashings of very fine spicy French oak dominating. I’m not sure if this going to get any better. Just might be a case of a little too much of everything but made very much in the “new wave” style. 88 and disappointing for the big buck asking price.

4/1/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

A very deep gold colour, somewhat overdeveloped compared to the otherworldly 1994 version of this remarkably finely-detailed and visually stunning label. What the colour suggests is reflected in the bouquet with citrus peel, ripe yellow peach, yellow nectarine and concentrated lime aromas with touches of honey and slate as top notes. In the mouth things continue to the beat of the same drum with a honeyed, fat texture, masses of extract (aka to what’s found in the nose) but cleaned up nicely by some essentially slate-driven acidity. Long, satisfying finish. About the top end of excellent. 8.5% A/V. For the near term. 90

4/7/2012 - David Lole wrote:

This inexpensive Rutherglen (Victoria, Australia) fortified shiraz displays hefty ripe sweet cherry and plummy Christmas cake fruit amidst flicks of licorice and sweet regional earth with some quite significant fine brandy spirit evident on both the bouquet and in the finish. It is about midway through its drinking window and has the potential to last for at least a decade, possibly two. It was well-liked by all at the table and continues to drink well from the bottle the next day. I thought it was deserving of a solid silver medal or about 89 points.

4/7/2012 - David Lole wrote:

Opened my first ever Turkey Flat N/V Sparkling Shiraz (Barossa Valley, 12.7% A/V and disgorged November 2007). As with all the serious Oz red fizzes I’ve tried over recent times, this has tremendously deep purple colour, enormous streams of fine bubbles followed by an impressive bouquet full of blue- and black- berries, a little sweet earth and hints of spice and subservient oak. The palate equally good with rich, slightly sweet, mouthfilling dark berried flavours, attractive swirling mousse, holding an excellent line through the mouth with cuddly tannins providing a solid foundation, although the finish is marginally short. Otherwise hard to fault. 90 points.

4/7/2012 - David Lole Likes this wine:

Surprisingly, a wine very much in evolutionary mode, redolent of well-meshed freshly roasted beetroot, hung game, spicy new oak, ripe fleshy black cherries and first-rate sappy notes. Still lively and fresh in the mouth with crunchy fruit reflecting exactly what’s found in the bouquet, this relatively robust, medium-bodied pinot noir delivers a reasonably bold statement from perky mineral-tinged acidity and fine-grained but not insubstantial tannins. Its classy fullness is followed by a classic burgundian peacock-tail finish. A very fine wine indeed. Has always been a great effort for the vintage. Drink now-2018+. 92 points. 13% A/V