May 23, 2020 - Strong cork here. Decanted one hour. Fair bit of sediment. Some light bricking but still ruby red core to it. Transparent too.
Some leafy/green notes upfront, bit of oak spice, and a bit of a feral undergrowth/mushroomy aroma in there. Sort of a musty old cupboard thing, the way old Aussie reds go sometimes. Some white pepper / beetroot / blood plum notes emerge with time. Palate is quite lithe and transparent, acidity is borderline shrill though. It's quite piercing after a while and really needs food. I feel like the fruit has faded away somewhat leaving a bit of a skeletal structure. Still kind of hanging on. I don't see the brett others have pointed out. I thought it was kind of enjoyable still, maybe more in an academic sense.
September 25, 2019 - Inital nose of dirty bathtub old fruit. Hardly any nose at all, but musty old fruit.
First palate was wow, way too old tart with vinegar type palate with tannic spices on the finish.
As it opened touches of chocolate and espresso came out.
3 hours later it gave way to eathy tarry flavors and cut roasted meats very well.
Oak was detactable after 4 hours.
There was orange rhind, raspberries, tart cherries, chocolate with flowers galore, violets and concentrated violets wiht a musky oak full body backbone.
November 20, 2016 - Very good, Cabernet, Shiraz, Malbec, merlot, 12.5% alc.
Colour: dark dusty berry
Bouquet: biscuits, developed and maybe a bit tired, vegetable, blackberry, sour
Palate: devleloped, blackberry and spice and white pepper, aniseed, dusty, clean finish, slightly short. Past best.
November 2016
November 18, 2016 - Spicy white pepper on the nose. Most of the fruit has dissipated leaving fine tannins and a very short finish. We drank on a warm night probably didn't help but its definitely on the way out.
October 7, 2016 - Nose shows light notes of strawberry, sherry, nuts, and autumn leaves. Palate shows flavours of strawberry and red cherry, with a hint of apricot. The structure is medium-bodied and mouth-filling, but totally disintegrates in the mouth, giving way to sharp acid with notes of lemon and white grapefruit. Seems to be falling apart, but doing so quite enjoyably.
June 10, 2016 - Big blast of cassis at first but it faded to bramble. Still decent, full and evolved.
July 4, 2012 - Medium garnet core, wide pale garnet rim. Open, developed nose, medicinal with smoky, spicy, herbal notes, bretty edge, underlying red fruit. Complex, promising and still with plenty of life. Medium bodied on the palate, fully integrated, soft tannins, smoky, spicy, savoury but also a lovely contrasting sweet red fruit core. Crisp acidity, to the point of being overly acidic, and the wine falls away on a short/medium length finish. Interesting if slightly lacking in depth and length, drink without delay!
May 11, 2012 - Mostly Aussies (Weygandt Wines - Washington, D.C.): This Bordeaux blend was really interesting in a lot of ways, but ultimately not good to the palate. Cloudy ruby color in the glass. What a bizzare and complex nose: dead ringer for Ukrainian borscht, as well as mustard seed and garlic. I kept waiting and searching for the fruit, but it remained elusive. The palate shows soft tannins and medium acid. It has a silky mouthfeel, but the weird flavors take over: garlic salt, chewing tobacco, charcoal and finally a hint of cranberry. This is seriously nerdy wine. Drinking it was a fun academic experience, but this is not the kind of wine you'd drink two glasses of.
December 3, 2011 - Really drinking well right now; great nose; low alcohol, especially for Australia; old world finish and nose, but with a bit of new world fruit; really long finish
September 20, 2010 - a little light in the nose, but very pleasant smelling. just smells a little light given its age. tons of grape jelly on the nose. a fair amount of sugar. a nice wine, and worth about $20.