Tyrrells Reserve Stevens Vineyard Shiraz 2002
The Stevens vineyard is one of the oldest and best in the Hunter Valley with some vines planted as early as 1865. Nine month in 45% new French oak and the rest in big oak casks. Sounds a like a receipe for some right tasty booze to me.
Very interesting aromas for a Hunter Shiraz featuring raspberry and blackcurrant pastille, earth, vanilla and a touch of pepper. On the palate just above medium bodied with silky smooth tannins and blackberry pastille, truffle and earthy flavours. Some fresh acid here also. Long raspberry and truffle aftertaste. Smells like a cool climate style (DMSesque) wine. Think 2000 Seppelt St Peters. I really like it here though as it adds an extra dimension of intensity to the flavour.
Tasted : Nov05Alcohol : 13.6%
Price : $30
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2005 - 2010
Source : Cellar Door
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Bottle, barrel and tank - Hunter Vintage ‘05
Last week I went through some barrel, tank and bottle samples at two Hunter Valley wineries and thought I would throw up some of my impressions (so to speak) on the two most important varietals - Shiraz and Semillon from the 2005 vintage. I will post more detailed impressions later. This is an overview.
Shiraz - The wines have finished malolactic and I can tell you “I’m excited”. There is excellent fruit purity here and good ripe tannin in a medium bodied classic Hunter style. Alcohols generally around the mid 13 percent mark. Quite different to the gutsy tannic 2003 vintage and equally good. Samples tasted from over 5 vineyards.
Semillon - Strange wines. Very fragrant with intense fruit salad aromas. Acids tending to be softer and the wines fuller bodied on the palate than usual. Certainly quite approachable at a young age. Will they age? I am sure the best will but really it is anyones guess. I like them a lot.
2004 Vintage seems solid but not great for Shiraz. Tannins seem a bit raw. The Semillon is classic. Very lean long term wines for cellaring. They should be great wines down the track.
My tip top top tips are to load up on 2003 shiraz and save some money for the 2005. Put some 2004 Semillon in the cellar and drink the 2005 up to medium term.
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Page Design Update
I don’t mind the look of this page at the moment but it is still a work in progress. I think I might spiff it up a bit more soon. The page heading in particular. Although plain is good. I like plain. This one is supposed to look a bit like a newspaper and perhaps refreshingly amateurish - something I excel at being - lets see.
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Lake’s Folly Red 2003
On a recent trip up to the Hunter I whizzed past Lake’s Folly and thought - “Hmmmmm better re-try that 2003 red again before it sells out”. Thats what I thought. So I rumbled up to the old famous A-Frame winery and purchased a couple of bottles. Look at the lovely red soil in the picture below. Then look up and cop the Brokenback ranges. Very picturesque. Out of interest if I spun round 180 degrees I would be looking at Mount Pleasant’s famous Rosehill vineyard. i.e. good red grape dirt round here.
I last tried this wine alongside the 1994,1998 and 2000 vintages at Hunter Uncorked 2004 - almost exactly a year ago. On that day I was renownedly hung-over but the palate seemed to be working ok all things considering. On that day the juxtaposition with the mighty ‘98 and ‘00 made this vintage look a little light on. Like someone might have panicked a bit and picked early when a few showers came over. Perhaps….
Tasting Note
This is a beautiful smelling wine. It offers cherry/blackcurrant fruit, mineral/earth, violet, grass clippings and well judged cedary vanilla oak. When it hits the palate you notice it is just above medium bodied with quite noticable acidity. The flavours are of blackcurrant,cherry and typical Folly earthiness. The tannins are light and fine. I suspect that slightly edgy acidity will stand this wine in very good stead in the long term and that the wine will build up palate weight with time in a nice cool cellar. Nonetheless I would have liked to see just a bit more oomph for top marks.
Alcohol : 12.5%
Price : $50
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2010 - 2015+
Source : Cellar Door
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Wine by Brad Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2005
This one is not backwards in coming forwards. Strong grassy/tomato plant over passionfruit and citrus. Punchy grass, passionfruit, blackcurrant and citrus flavours that are intense, clean and clear. Leaves the palate refreshed with an aftertaste of tart fruits and herbs. Good fruit sweetness balances out the grassiness and the acidity is crisp - not harsh. Summer special.
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $18
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2005 - 2006
Source : Winery Sample
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Billecart Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Francois 1996
Not so good at writing notes on Champagne I am afraid.
This one smells of brioche, citrus with a light floral lift (maybe acacia or something). Super fine persistent mousse - lovely to watch it foaming away there so happily. Quite backwards and leaning towards the more delicate style of champagne (good) with fresh lemon and biscuity flavours. Good lip smacking finish. Opened up very well - the last glass the best. Not cheap but very very good. Another $40 would slip you into a bottle of the otherworldly 96 Dom though.
Tasted : Nov05Alcohol : 12%
Price : $160
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2006 - 2012+
Source : Retail
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An old blender
I have been doing a bit of blending recently. I find it quite interesting knocking up a little cuvee to suit my particular tastes. Mixing up a 2005 Semillon with a 2004 unwooded Chardonnay has worked very well. I have also been fond of resurrecting the old classic Shiraz Pinot blend. A mix of 2003 Coldstream Hills Pinot and 2000 Mount Pleasant Phillip Shiraz worked a treat. I recommend trying it.
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Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin 2001
Lovely colour. Smells marvellous and scented with bright red fruit, decaying autumn leaves and spicy caramel oak. On the palate it has red fruit, spice and more earthy mushroomy flavours. The acidity is bright and there are some firm grippy (pleasantly stalky) tannins . Quite an expansive finish. Top shelf for a village wine I think and plenty of ageing potential. Splendid.
Tasted : Nov05Alcohol : 13%
Price : $90
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2006 - 2013
Source : Ultimo Wine Centre
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More Hunter
Popped up to the Hunter for a day recently. Tasted some very impressive wines. Reports will come trickling through over the next couple of days.
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SAK2 Day 1
By Gary Walsh
I intended to take ‘really really good notes’ (in Zoolander voice) for this event but then thought ‘stuff it I just want to drink and enjoy myself’. Sorry about that. Selfish I know. So what follows are some thoughts on the wines we had on the last weekend of October 2005 at the second annual SAK spectacular. The SAK (sell a kidney) weekend is held at Hillcrest Vineyard in the Yarra Valley. Only six tasters attend – JP, Antonio, Dear Leader, DCB, Tanya and myself. We cook. We drink in the renowned manner and generally have a very good time. The theme is supposed to be Bordeaux but this year we kicked off with a ‘great wines of the world’ dinner on the Friday night. During a hair raising lift with DCB from the city to the Yarra (the brake is the one on the left matey. NO LEFT!), in a car reeking of freshly purchased cheese, we were enlightened by his ‘two dogs’ theory of wine tasting. Suffice to say JP and I were ready for some cooling and calming champagne when we arrived. We had to make do with a lovely James Squire Golden Ale though as Dear Leader and Mr Antonio Banderas circled the Woori Yallock area in their Limo. Hopelessly lost. In the meantime DCB showed us his huge salami (politely declined by JP) and we chewed the fat until they arrived. Wines were arranged in readiness and the champagnes put on ice. 
The 1976 Krug is an interesting wine. Fairly deep in colour and smelling of orange, caramel and scorched marmalade. Quite acidic. Still a good bubbliness and a rather sharp finish. Curious but in not so hot really. Only good bottles. A few palate calibrating spoons of Oscietra Caviar and then on to the first bottle of 1973 Dom Perignon. This is not the Oenotheque it is an original release. Smells excellent. Hazelnuts, cream and spice. Fine with a good mousse. Quite chalky with creamy nutty flavours. Very soft and appealing. Excellent length. Not as good as the magnum of Oenotheque we had recently but very very good. The second bottle good but not nearly as fresh but still a good wine. This was paired with our first course – A chequerboard of Hamachi and Tuna sashimi with orange oil – being a rendering of the Tetsuya classic by Dear Leader. 
Now off to the kitchen while I prepare a Linguine with Oriental Mushroom for the next course. An original bottling of 1965 Lindemans Bin 3110 is opened as well as a 1987 Henri Jayer Vosne Romanee Les Brulees. Sadly I put a little too much hot paprika over the top of some of the others Linguine. Not mine though. It was excellent. The Lindies is a very good, though not superb, example of the wine. Classic Hunter offering up licorice, raspberry and earth. A very dense tannic palate packed full of fruit and flavour. This wine looks young. Magnificent. The Jayer has sweet red fruit , mushroom and earthy potato like aromas. Sweet strawberry fruit and liquorice flavours. Low acid. Low tannin. I find this wine to be un-naturally sweet but am howled down by DCB who calls me a heathen. A very good wine from a less than famous vintage. Whilst on this course a 1991 JJ Confuron Clos Vougeot is cracked. Now this I really like. It smells of liquorice root, pepper, red fruit and mushroom. Nice and dry with spice and leaf and great fruit. Good long finish. This is a wine with integrity. Lovely. DCB calls me a heathen again. Dear Leader has slow roasted some beef. It is very good. The 1982 Certan de May is poured into the six official SAK2 Riedel Sommelier Grand Cru Bordeaux stems. This wine is just fantastic. Ripe cherries and blackcurrant, herbs, smoke. One to just to sniff and smile but the palate is no let down. Ripe but balanced. Still looking young. Possibly my wine of the night. Next we have a 91 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillion and a 1998 Guigal La Mouline. The Le Pavillion is violetty with blackberry, licorice, toast and herbs. Smooth tannins. Quite sweet. Some idiots think it is corked. Hmmmm. I liked it a lot. The La Mouline is monstrous. Massive amounts of smoky oak, dirt, cherry, bacon and spice. Fair bit of lift. Intense palate. This just seems too oaky for me at this point in time and not up to the 1999 in quality. There is a 1997 Gaja Sperss to drink now anyway. Quite a bit of VA here. Dark cherry, violet and roses, tar. Classic stuff. Lots of grippy tannin. Superb wine. To use one of Antonio’s made up words – it is Prostigious! A selection of cheeses is put out. No Quickes chedder though as the dog scarfed it. Quite sloshed now and DCB brings out an options wine. It is a 1998 Bass Philip Reserve Pinot which I declare to be an excellent right bank merlot. Heathen! DCB tries it out on the girls who pick it correctly as a Pinot and also agree that I am a complete heathen. DCB is overflowing with happiness at the confirmation (or is that affirmation?). I was really impressed with this wine but it is late and can’t tell too much more. Another options wine is a 1994 Wendouree Cabernet Merlot which is OK but I am past it now. Not a great idea to go too hard on night one which brings me to DCB’s two dogs theory. When a dog is given a bowl of food with no other dogs around of food it eats at leisurely pace. When two dogs are given the same bowl they go nuts and try and eat the lot as fast as possible. Hmmmmm. Was there also an 88 Climens, a bottle of 04 Hillcrest Pinot, a slide down a muddy embankment and a forklift somewhere in there too? I can’t be too sure.
Next installment: Day 2 Great Bordeaux.
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Contributors
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Double Take
Next Double Take :
Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005
