4/7/2024 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Lovely bright golden colour in the glass. The nose is an appealing amalgam of peaches and cream and nougat. Barrel fermentation is very evident in the mix. The palate has a creamy texture backed with enough acid to carry the fruit weight to the back palate. A very food friendly chardonnay that exemplifies the Margaret River in spades.

2/8/2024 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A bright gleaming yellow colour leads to a nose of lanolin, lemon and hallmark emerging honey. A slight spritz remains but blows off with time in the glass. The palate is quite creamy and fuller displaying the warmer vintage of 2014.The typical Belford honey notes of the Elliott era Belfords is well to the fore. The wine is well within its drinking window but will certainly hold for at least another five years. A very pleasing wine to accompany many dishes. Tonight it will be with freshly caught gurnard and whiting.

1/29/2024 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Green capsicum and peppermint greet the nose suggesting a lighter expression of Coonawarra Cabernet to follow. The palate picks up the acid throughout the tasting. However a medium to lighter bodied flavour of mint and chocolate follows. Not a great wine but more than pleasant enough for summer drinking in Australia. The wine does lift with aeration in the glass.

12/5/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A bright red colour with very little brown on the edges promises a well structured wine. The nose is dusty and lightly berried and rather understated at first. The palate is old school “Hunter burgundy” with its deeply flavoured amalgam of red plums, spice and ripe cherries supported with a refreshing spine of acid. The vineyard is the former Long Flat vineyard renamed twenty years ago in honour of Bruce’s son John Tyrrell. The vineyard’s lighter soil profile produces a lighter expression of Hunter shiraz. Only 100 dozen bottles were produced. I enjoyed the contrast with the other Tyrrell Shiraz wines.

11/17/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Creamy lemon squash is prominent on the nose with some lanolin also in the background. The palate has broad and rich elements of lemon with some lime. This is a creamy and more textural expression of Hunter semillon that is likely to reach maturity more quickly than the other Tyrrell’s semillons of this vintage.

11/1/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The nose was an amalgam of warm wet straw, lanolin and some emerging whiffs of honey. The acid was still lurking behind a core of fruit that emerged more fully as the glass warmed. While the the wine is drinking very well now, I remain doubtful that it will improve much further especially given the lower acidity present in the wine. It may become marginally mellow over the next three years or so. Whatever, a delight with battered orange roughie and chips.

9/8/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Lovely as a young wine with one bottle held back to discover how it has evolved. Intense nose of of intense orange, lime and lemon peel that Carrie’s through to the palate. Lemon becomes the dominant flavour as the long acid spine takes it through to the finish. A lovely food wine that matches the best of the cool climate Rieslings of Australia.

7/15/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Fabulous translucent colour. The nose exhibits cherry, spice and red fruits. The balance is impeccable with a long flowing palate of complex Pinot flavours with just a hint of grip at the back palate. While great drinking now, this may benefit from 18 months to two years in the cellar. As good an Aussie Pinot noir as I have enjoyed for some time. A label to watch for sure.

6/11/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

After a ninety minute decant, the nose was quite out of the ordinary with a spirit like smell unlike I have encountered from a Hunter shiraz. The colour for a sixteen year old red was an immaculate dark crimson with only a faint brown on the rim. The taste was more like a cool climate red with a light touch that caressed the palate but with extraordinary line and length. Perhaps this was more like the older classical Hunter Burgundy style of yesteryear. On the second day, the unusual character on the nose had blown off and the wine was even more seductive on the palate. A real taste experience quite unlike recent top notch Hunter reds I have enjoyed.

5/8/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Beautifully refined and elegant nose showing smokey spice and a hint of camphor. The palate shows the medium bodied elegance of matured shiraz from this region. The spicy cool climate fruit is nicely balanced with the oak and acid background. A lovely expression of a fully mature wine from one of my favourite regions.

5/5/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Quite a developed nose that follows through to the palate. Broad Semillon flavours of lemon and lanolin make this a very drinkable wine. The remaining three bottles will be consumed before the year’s end. I was pleasantly surprised by the drinkability of this wine that did not any show green flavours despite the challenging vintage.

4/6/2023 - cogo44 wrote:

A lovely crimson robe with no sign of ageing brown on the rim. Earth and spice come through on the nose with a background of musk. The palate is very rich with a touch of volatile acid lifting the spicy fruited palate. The tar and earth with sour cherry and blueberry come through on the the very long complex aftertaste. This is quite a wine and a triump of Hunter shiraz from a great year. Another five or more years will most likely round out the acid and evolve into a more rounded finish.

4/3/2023 - cogo44 wrote:

The wine has built up a strong lemon and Orange rind character. Definitely a food wine and unlikely to improve further.

2/21/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Lovely garnet colour followed by a touch of spice and musk on the nose. The palate fully exhibits the great 2018 vintage in the Hunter with plum and spicy red fruits combining with soft tannins, medium weight acidity and an underlying richness of fruit. While the wine may well soften with some ageing it is a now very satisfying easy drinking shiraz. “Easy on the gums” as Len Evans would have said.

2/5/2023 - cogo44 wrote:

Four years after my last bottle, the nose has built up to display predominant lanolin with a lemon sherbet backing that carries on to the palate. The fruit is not deep but is certainly there. The acid spine suggests that it may fill out and gather some honey notes but it is lean enough now to suggest that any improvement is likely to be marginal. Made for seafood.

2/4/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A whiff of tar, leather and musk on the nose. Surprisingly high acid profile for this Hunter vintage. Red fruits and spice poke their way through the predominant acid. I doubt if this wine will go beyond what ii is now displaying. Probably a lesser expression of Tyrrell’s Shiraz from the 2014 vintage.

1/31/2023 - cogo44 wrote:

Very Tempranillo dominant on the nose. Lovely fleshy palate of dark bright fruits that is well supported with a long acid spine.The tannins are nicely grippy. Will probably improve with a few more years in the cellar. A quite unique style from Canberra.

1/22/2023 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

This last bottle has now displayed much more of what you could expect from an aged Hunter Semillon. The palate has filled out and it is an unashamed old fashioned expression of straw, lanolin and background honey. A hark back to the style of the 1960s and 1970s and very much enjoyed. Great with bream fillets.

12/22/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A deep golden hue sits in the glass suggesting the wine is well on its way to maturity. Wet straw and lemon comes through on the nose albeit rather subduedly. The palate has plenty of fruit dominated by squashed lemon tingling on the back palate. The wet year is apparent on the composition of the wine and it may well be close to its peak. Great with seafood.

12/16/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

On the nose, there is little hint of it’s a Hunter origins although on the palate the Hunter earth underlies a complex palate of seamless Cabernet dominant flavours. The lightness on the palate is a feature of the wine that effortlessly integrates the fruit, oak and fresh acid spine. It is well worth holding the remaining two bottles for a few years to see if there is any further development. I suspect however it may well be marginal.

11/25/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The wine has an intriguing zesty ginger and cinnamon like note on the nose and is rather different to expectations. The fruit is very fulsome with apple, pear and some background lime. While delicious drinking in its youth, this wine will fill out with another five to seven years in the cellar to be something special. The acid backbone will support its journey more than adequately. Made for seafood.

9/9/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Lovely bright yellow colour with a green tinge. The nose is a rich amalgam of hazelnut, oatmeal and vanilla cream. The palate follows through from the nose leaving a lingering mouth feel and aftertaste. A worthy wine with food and certainly now in its drinking window.

9/6/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Deep red/purple colour with a distinctive menthol and mint character evident on the nose. The palate is typically full of mint and chocolate. The tannins are well supported by an acid spine but the finish is rather short and lacks elegance. The Shiraz from the same vintage is a better wine.

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.

9/1/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The wine displays an abundant crimson robe with just a suggestion of brick brown on the very edge. An intriguing nose of potpourri and cola is very evident with some white pepper deeply ingrained. Not a typical Hunter shiraz nose in my experience of years of drinking Hunter shiraz and Tyrrell’s in particular. The palate is in the modern fruit forward medium bodied Hunter style but with an exceptionally long spine of plummy fruit, gentle oak and a long profile of acid that carries the wine through to a penetratingly sustained aftertaste. A wine of substance and style that is likely to build further into something special and become more typically Hunter.

8/28/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

A beautiful nose of violets and cranberry promises much. The wine is right in its comfort zone and shines through with lightly oaked Shiraz fruit backed by satisfying tannins. This is the medium bodied “claret” style that Coonawarra made its reputation on. A joy to drink and good to see it avoiding the bigger over cropped style of the 70s and 80s.

8/10/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

A crimson robe with a brick brown rim meets the eye. The nose has a vegetive and medicinal character that may blow away with further airing. The palate is a light expression of Shiraz up front but has an extractive character possibly from hard pressings at the back. It was better with food but did not live up to expectations. An alcoholic burn is also part of the aftertaste. Not a typical Hunter shiraz.

8/2/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

Oatmeal and peach and a funky undertone are on the nose while the wine has a light yellow hue. The palate has a butterscotch aftertaste with a hint of green from the wet 2015 Hunter vintage. The acid is fading and an alcohol burn is also evident on the back palate. Pleasant enough with roast pork but not a wine to be cellared any further.

7/29/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

Not too much to detect here on the nose. The palate has a saline and rather sour note with not a great deal of fruit behind it. This is not up to the usual high standard of this label. It’s lack of complexity would not warrant any further cellaring in my opinion. Pleasant enough but without distinction.

7/25/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The colour is a full golden hue that suggests that the wine may be fully mature. The nose comes through after some time to match the colour. Pear is predominant on the nose with the typical Clare lemon and lime coming through more evidently in the aftertaste. Marmalade or orange peel is very much in evidence with sufficient acid to pucker the mouth. This is a fuller expression of Clare riesling that matched barramundi very well.

7/9/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

When poured into a decanter, the predominant rich sweet fruit lept out markedly. Pencil shavings of quality wood and a whiff of underlying greenness were evident. The typical blackberry flavours were long and satisfying while the acid was surprisingly muted. The mouth grip on the finish suggests that another five years may further soften the finish although I doubt if the wine’s complexity will improve noticeably.

7/5/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The nose builds in the glass over time showing cherry, musk, spice and a subdued note of violets. The palate is quite light at first but builds up delightfully in the glass to produce a flavoursome sweet fruit finish supported by fine tannins and acid. The lingering aftertaste is excellent. The structure of this wine is very much in the modern Hunter shiraz style that accompanies food so well. I am happy to drink the remaining bottles over the next year or so.

6/24/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Tasted at the Sydney Good Food and Wine Show. Very well balanced cabernet with great fruit married with soft tannins. Not so sure about the recently released 2019 version.

6/21/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

Decanted for over one hour. The colour is densely red/black. The nose is quite complex with cigar box notes to the fore. A hint of minty menthol remains in the background. The palate has a caramel like character mixed in with the blackberry suggesting that the oak may be starting to overcome the fruit. Whatever, thirty two years have treated the wine very well and the lamb shanks complemented it more than adequately.

6/14/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The colour is quite golden with lemon and lime and a note of emerging honey coming through on the nose. The palate does not have the depth of flavour suggested by the colour. Whatever, the typical lanolin and wet straw is evident with a tingling acid spine that leaves the wine a little short on the back palate. To hold or to drink? Difficult to say but worth a bottle each way.

6/13/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

Typical Eden Valley nose of apple, quince and a hint of petrol as the wine warmed in the glass. The palate is fulsome though not particularly complex with lemon and apple and a ginger note coming through. The acid is unlikely to support further development of the wine. Pleasant enough but not a hallmark Riesling from this maker and has fallen away somewhat since I last tasted it.

6/11/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The nose has evolved nicely showing cola, spice and meaty notes. The palate no longer shows a harsher grip that was evident when last tasted. The profile is now more integrated with the soft spicy fruit well supported by gentle tannins and an acid spine. The wine will certainly live for another decade but is drinking very well at present. Great Western Shiraz at its medium bodied best.

6/2/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

An oldie that has stood up pretty well. Prune and spice come through on the nose. The palate is where the wine begins to shine with an amalgam of flavours rather difficult to dissect. The tannins were certainly drying out. Suffice to say that the lamb shanks did not complain. An old style Aussie red that speaks a great deal of the winemaking skills of an emerging wine industry at the time of making.

5/30/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

Bright lemon colour at first suggests a wine younger than 2013. The nose and palate have a strong lemon pith character that is just staring its journey towards maturity. Expect the buttered toast and honey characters to emerge with another five years or more in the cellar. The finish has a typical wax and lanolin coating on the palate with plenty of acid for the wine’s upward journey. An excellent Hunter Semillon to savour with seafood.

5/17/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

A beautifully deep crimson colour promises good things to come. The nose is an amalgam of pepper and Rhone like spices with some baked meat in the mix. The feature of the wine is the core of deep blackberry and plum like flavours that are very well supported by excellent oak and refreshing acid. The wine is excellent drinking right now and will hold for some time to come.

5/4/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A lovely wine that is in its drinking window. A very Bordeaux like character on the nose and palate. Blackberry notes come to the fore with a very polished oak treatment being a feature of the wine. A fine example from Margaret River.

5/3/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A bright clear golden hue is the glass. Wet straw, lanolin and lemon squash comes through on the nose. The palate has a distinct briny character backed by lemon rind which comes through on the palate. A light hardness is on the back palate but it does not detract too much from the pleasing overall character of the wine. Perhaps the wine was a little hard pressed? Very much a food wine that will hold its plateau for some time.

4/20/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Beautifully understated richness is the hallmark of this wine. Effortless drinking with Italian fare. I would be drinking this one sooner rather than later less the fruit might fade.

4/12/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Drinking extremely well now with a good acid line and integrated tannins to hold it for another five years. Mid weight with the lightness of its savoury touch that speaks of its Hunter terroir with the addition of the Tyrrell’s imprimatur. A one hour decant and time in the glass definitely helps.

3/22/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Can only agree with Lightnings’s tasting note. Certainly one of the best 2014 Hunter shiraz wines tasted to date. This wine will cellar well.

3/20/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

A subdued nose of spice and a hint of liquorice. The palate is somewhat confected and suggestive of a warm ferment. Blueberries come through on the palate with a sharp acid edge. Not my favourite expression of Hunter shiraz. The fruit should be singing from this vintage. Perhaps it will come together in time but it remains problematic.

3/8/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

The dense purple crimson robe suggests a younger wine but 2014 was a bigger vintage in the a Hunter. The nose has spice and a rich fruity perfumed essence that promises much. The palate is very Marella jube like with dominant blue fruits backed by a high acid spine. This is a modern expression of Hunter shiraz that will become something special wth another eight or more years. One to watch.

3/6/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

Lovely golden colour with a toasty nose of lemon and lime slithers. The wine is made for food with a rich middle palate of pear, saline overtones and lemon supported by mouth puckering acidity that has well integrated into the rich fruit. A top Clare Riesling that has developed into its drinking window.

2/28/2022 - cogo44 Likes this wine:

A muted nose but a very smooth taste with no hole in the middle that is often a Cabernet characteristic. More than satisfying with pasta dish. Coonawarra Cabernet showing its long lived reputation.

2/26/2022 - cogo44 wrote:

Bright red colour and a nose that spoke more of the Hunter than of Cabernet. The palate was very smooth, delicate and displaying more of the Cabernet characteristics you would expect. No doubt the fruit has faded somewhat but this is a unique wine that stood up well to its reputation. Having met Max Lake a few times, a toast to the trailblazer was made.