10/26/2023 - Bsmith457 Likes this wine:

Deep ruby colour, pronounced aroma of blackcurrant, plum, capsicum, white pepper, leather, meat. Dry, medium acidity, medium fine tannin, full body, long finish. Pronounced flavour of plum, blackcurrant, pepper, tomato leaf, dark chocolate.
Full and spicy with smooth fruit flavours. Still young, many years ahead.

9/8/2023 - rsazima Does not like this wine:

Muted and tannic, hopes were way higher. Did not improve with aeration .

3/27/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I had a very happy relationship with Curly (unlike General Custer) until this vintage. Previously I had only had older years and had loved the combination of power with elegance, the smooth mouthfeel that then somehow finished with perfect grip and the memories the wine evoked. I was excited to buy the 2015 vintage on release - a fine year throughout Oz. It arrived just in advance of a dinner I was hosting and I added it to the wine list. However, it was not good on the night, not good at all. There was an annoying smoky note that dominated proceedings, the tannins were prominent and not enjoyable and the wine seemed angular and, dare I say it, almost short. I bought no more Curly Flat from then on.

Yesterday was grey, wet and sung the siren song 'drink wine'. I had pate and so Pinto was the order of the day. My hand hovered over some Premier and Grand Cru Red Burgundy, but the moment didn't feel quite right. Then I saw Curly. Perfect. "If it remains disappointing, I will go to the Burg, if it is ok then it is good weekday drinking", I thought to myself.

Before I could say "Hairy Moccasin" or "Little Big Horn" or even "Stormy Daniels, I summon thee", the cap was unscrewed and the wine gurgling happily into glass.

In the glass, a luminescent ruby, clear and bright but it is the wonderful aroma that comes swarming out that arrests my attention. The line "Herr General Malkovitch my nipples are erect" came to mind. Horn tucker time!

There is a really sensual strawberry aroma, some kirsch (but not kirche or kuche), leafy naughtiness but not nasties, raspberry, some cedar and jube. The palate delivers with a velvety mouthfeel and just the right amount of grip on the finish. Medium weight, medium intensity and good length.

How nice it is to have one's faith restored (kirche after all?). This is a fraction of the price of Burgundy and really delivers. I am not a fan of the idea that wine from one place can be a substitute for another place, nor of the idea that one may be 'better'. I have had so much Burgundy drivel, including Premier and Grand Crus, but I have also had some heavenly stuff. I prefer to take each place for what it is. What I can say is that the best Pinot from outside Burgundy can provide great pleasure, equal to but not the same as Burgundy. However, if PQR is a factor (and there have been times in my life when it has been and doubtless there will be times in the future too), wines like this give complexity, light and shade, power and grace that come at a fraction of the P and damn near all the Q.

The lesson here really is that Curly, like the Crow scout, gets better with age. Curly is a survivor, so give him time to grow after you buy. If you do, you will have, like the Crow warrior, integrity and joy. Opened too young and you will resemble the unfairly maligned Reno and the wine Bloody Knife. Don't go into that tree line. Time to play some Robbie Robertson. I still think Custer may have died trying to ford the river, his body dragged back, accounting for the loss of command and control and the one-sided casualty count. But we will never really know. The right side won that day, as it did yesterday, when I opened a properly aged bottle of Curly.

12/23/2022 - Dr S Likes this wine:

I’d planned to open the 09 to celebrate the end to another full-on exhausting year in the trenches, but the unexpectedly ‘unseasonal’ burst of heat led me to want something of equal stature but not so rich. From the first snifter of the gloriously spicy nose, I knew I’d finally made one good decision in 2022.

This has the full spice rack poured into it, littered with floral petals and a hunk of charcuterie too. All wrapped around generous dollops of dark cherry and perhaps plum. Deeply perfumed.

This is but a prelude to the main act, the stunning palate, akin to Free or Bad Company opening for Led Zepp. The firm graphite tannins have yielded, or retreated backstage to let the fruit, spice and (classic Clonakilla) baking bone flavours roll over and over your palate. Ample and layered, long and complex. I couldn’t shake the image of the 600 litre puncheons in which this Syrah was raised. Their spherical shape and volume seemed an apt metaphor for the scale and structure of the wine. Or think of John Bonham’s drum work, the deep resonant backbeat to the rest of the band’s artistry.

Bloody good to drink now but more power and glory lies ahead, 10-20 years or so. Fascinating to compare how it ages with its twin, the slightly sweeter but less powerful 2016 Syrah.

12/4/2022 - Moloko Likes this wine:

Penfolds does Sangiovese! It tastes how you'd imagine... heavy with oak, but quality, hiding medium bodied cherries. Easily fools as a medium bodied shiraz from the Barossa with all the Penfolds hallmarks.

1/15/2021 - RieslingFanatic Likes this wine:

My last bottle and, typically, the best of the bunch. Excellent balance of green apple (perhaps with a touch of honey) and lemon oil matched to crisp acidity and a mineral underlay. Delicious.

5/28/2021 - Moloko Likes this wine:

Had a couple of these now, well nice structured chardy with lemony front and a butterscotch finish. Very impressed, bought some 18 now.

7/15/2021 - colinscellar Likes this wine:

I was impressed by how good this was at 16yrs. Not a super complex wine but good citrus flavours with a bit of oak spice and still enough acid to keep it fresh.

7/6/2021 - Morgan1132 Does not like this wine:

Copy profbyron note. Not much balance or finesse. Quite tannic, Really big, heavy wine, high acid and too young to present as soft or rich. Nose is muted and I don't pick up heaps on the palate other than tar/anise and it leaves an almost astringent note on the finish. Funnily I remember quite enjoying this at the cellar door, don't know what happened there, maybe the bottle was open a while. Have a couple more, probably won't open another for at least 5, needs to mellow out and soften quite a lot for my tastes.

1/18/2021 - NickBurwood Likes this wine:

A personal favourite over the years so I really hope this is suffering from delayed development as hasn't moved since my '18 note. Either closed tight or (hopefully not) lightweight.
Will hold my remaining bottles till 2025 and keep my fingers firmly crossed.

12/26/2019 - Moloko Likes this wine:

Disgorged 2016, some breadiness developing on an acidic complex champagne. Very enjoyable. Bought an old one with no date on it, also great drinking, anyone know what year they started placing the disgorged dates on the bottles?

1/9/2018 - Moloko Likes this wine:

The licorice plum fruit is ripe, bordering on over ripe, but didn't go there thankfully. It finishes fairly acidic, with some fine tannin and a bit of dark chocolate. I didn't detect any menthol character which was disappointing, but hopefully there is some to come. Pretty bloody enjoyable really.

12/5/2017 - thebatcavewines Likes this wine:

I used most of it for cooking but had a small glass to try but only after i'd already had 5 double bourbons so my thoughts may be slightly off on this wine but it wasn't the worst. For a wine under $3 it was okay. Good for cooking. Good for someone that is happy to drink any red just to drink & get drunk. I found eating some raw red onion prior to each mouthful lifted this 75 to an 80+ for me. The onion added some spice & earthiness to the wine.

7/29/2017 - Moloko Does not like this wine:

Flat pineapple juice. No that sounds pleasant, this has lost all freshness and vibrancy turning into something better poured down the sink. Makes me wonder about my cellaring conditions given the review below was made only a month earlier. 2011 was a shocking vintage and maybe the winemaker's magic has finally succumbed to this. Remaining bottle is buried somewhere, hiding like some lurker in the dark. I WILL FIND YOU...

8/8/2017 - Drinking Trees wrote:

Clean and crisp. Nose of concrete powder and mineral water, with a hint of lime peel. Palate has a fresh lime flavour, medium-bodied and dry: there may be a touch of residual sugar adding body, but to me, it doesn't come across as sweetness.