The glory of 2006 Margaret River Chardonnay: Thirteen wines and unlucky for some..
After tasting so many ripper Margaret River Chardonnays from the 2006 vintage I had the idea (and admittedly hardly an innovative one) of selecting a range of wines at various price points, throwing in a couple of burgundy ringers, making sure all the big names were represented (apart from Leeuwin who wouldn’t come to the party with a bit of pre-release action) and tasting them single blind - wine show stylee. I don’t normally taste this way - I like to take it slow and look at a wine over a longer period of time, often days, with the label in full view - just like a consumer would. I think both methods have their merits and failings. Suffice to say I’m happy with the way I do things and don’t want to open that particular can of worms. So this was a flash run through the wines in order to get a quick fix on quality and style…and as you’d expect there were a couple of surprises. I’m usually reluctant to publish scores on hasty tastings and I include them here more to illustrate an order of preference rather than anything else . Oh and the photo is of North Sydney Cellars who hosted the tasting and supplied the Burgundies (the rest of the wines being submitted by the wineries). I would have included a snap of the actual tasting except I dropped my camera on the concrete shortly after the first photo and, with a torrent of ripe cursing, that was the end of that.
I have included my (very) raw notes pretty much as I banged them into the keyboard on the night and make commentry on the wine in italics with the benefit of hindsight. I also include, where available, my previous score for the wine. All wines are from the 2006 vintage.
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Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Jean Marc Brocard Les Clos - Dirty old wood!!!
Interesting comment on a winery that does not use any oak regime in any of their Chablis.
2006 Domaine Jean Marc Brocard Chablis Les Clos 92-95
Pure, brisk, steely nose offers lemon, lime, grapefruit peel and crushed stone, with complicating notes of spearmint and menthol. Suave
and citric on entry, then superconcentrated and steely in the middle, with bracing flavors of grapefruit, lemon and spearmint. This has a
compelling sugar/acid tang. Shifts to a higher gear on the back end, ending with a real whiplash of fruits and stones. This should be longlived
for the vintage. Stephen Tanzer
That’s what it tasted like. Is Tanzer on screwcap or cork. I said the wine had potential. Only looked at it over an hour - and it was packed with sulphur/sulphides.
GW
I’ve had the Devil’s Lair 3 times now and each one has been top notch. Sounds like I should try the Voyager.
Surprised by your comments on Pierro. I found it buttery, massive, and delicious.
BTW - Great job on the website. Looks fantastic, almost as good as Winorama
Dave looks like he’s running over to stop you drinking straight out of the Enomatic spout again.
If I was writing a guide to “Next Big Things In Aussie Wine” … in terms of wines that are likely to go up in price … Voyager chardonnay would be high on that list.
This report is superb btw. Excellent work big fella.
Ta. Wanted it to be pinchingly honest - even if it makes either myself or the bottles look a bit erratic. Not sure which. That being said it seems the distributor of Brocard seems none too happy with my comments - although I thought it was quite positive. I’d have like to have had 6 or 12 glasses but I only had one and walked up and down the line - from 1 to 13 - tasting through the wines.
GW
We might need to look at another Cullen big boy. HH says 97 in Good Living today.
Yep. Well I had it once and gave it 97 (and was the first to review it I might add). I’m happy with that score. I’d say this was just an errant bottle. CM has it at 95.
GW
Maybe you should ask for another Brocard while you’re at it?
I liked the Brocard. It would have been less smelly if decanted and aired for a while. But then, I found the Clairault to be more sulphidey.
I don’t doubt Matthew Quirk when he says above that Brocard don’t use oak, but people are perceiving it in this wine. The latest Decanter magazine tasted the Les Clos as part of its ‘06 Chablis Grand Cru round up, and they also mention oak in their tasting note.
Actually I ws just getting at you could angle for a freebie but I guess you get plenty of those anyway.
It should be noted that Brocard (via their importer QED) generously supplied the bottle we used at the tasting, something Leeuwin Estate would not do with Art Series chardonnay.
Well you are well known dirty woodiste..
GW
The Brocard just reeked of burnt rubber hose - yummy sulphides - probably due to inadvertant over-sulphuring at bottling with screwcap - the worry was it didn’t go away over a couple of hours.
I thought I’d just pop up the notes on the Brocard from Decanter and myself in relation to this comment from Matt Quirk
6 Jean Marc Brocard Les Clos ($130)
Flinty, very refined palate. Not fruity. Wet wool, shells mineral. Some dirty old wood. Too much sulphur for now but potential. 90+ (N/A) points.
Screamed Chablis. This wine was screwcapped and I’m not sure they got it into bottle quite as cleanly as they should. Obviously a tight wine and one for the future.
Decanter Aug08 - 2006 GC Chablis
Firm nose, a hint of oak. Solid palate with a firm streak of oak. Tightly knit and restrained. From 2013. (RG) Recommended - Three Stars 14.5
So fooling more than one (blind) taster there Matt. Our impressions are pretty similar less the reduction issue - but they don’t note the closure. I’m betting it was cork though.
GW
Tasted the Clairault Estate again last night. Consistent notes and score. I’ll write up a full note.
GW
cheers Gary for putting this piece together. I’d just logged out to search for some 2006 Marg chard’s online (after tasting the Voyager 2 nights ago) and got the google hit back to wine front.
Confirmed my plans to search high and low for some Voyager 2006 chardonnay!
No worries, and in other good news my camera started working.
GW