Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa 1992

An elegant Bordeaux style Australian cabernet with only 12.8% alcohol. Quite acidic but a beautiful nose of floral tobacco and a slightly smoky green vegetable palate. The wine improved after an hour or so or aeration and cut through a rich and fragrant coq au vin with ease. It still retained a bit of fruit and aftertaste.

d'Arenberg Ironstone Pressings 1999

93 points
I don't drink wines like this very often (often enough). This is a meaty earthy tannic savoury with nots of sweet restrained fruit, spicy long lasting finish- wine. 100% McLaren Vale old vine Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre. this wine is made in a very similar way to Grange- with soft crushing and hand heading, final fermentation in new French and American oak barrels, so the wood is not overpowering, but certainly the tannin level is near the edge (where I often like it). Fantastic with a home-grown vegetable stew and red meat (sorry Byron).

Penfold's Bin 138 Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre 2003

88 points
A savory example of the blend, some Penfold's style tannins (fairly heavy but powdery), but not overtly oaked. The blend was not as fruity as some other examples, but had good mouthfeel and length. A good value from Dan Murphy's at $17, but the same wine was $24 at Vintage Cellars.

Petaluma Riesling 2005 (review)

87+ points

Clare Valley, South Australia. 13%

2005 is being reported as a great Riesling vintage in Clare.

My recollection is that Petaluma makes fine, sturdy, masculine riesling; built for the long term but approachable early as dry food wines.

This vintage is powerful, quite hard, with considerable lime cordial (without the sugar) character. Aeration does little to change this. This wine should last a long time, but will it ever have charm ?

Chateau Louviere Blanc 1999 (review)

82 points

Graves, Bordeaux. 12.5%

I have had little experience with white Bordeaux. This is as I would expect dry, savoury, and with considerable oak. Semillon I can believe, but Sauvignon Blanc no. Unfortunately the wine seems pretty dried out and oxidised. Perhaps not a great bottle. Oddly the alcohol seems high.

Shaw and Smith Shiraz 2003 (review)

87 points

Adelaide Hills, South Australia. 14%

Dark unfiltered colour. Restrained but interesting funky aromas. This is "new wave" shiraz as the back label says. Warm and rich but not overly sweet nor weighed down by oak, added acid and tannins. Restrained French oak rather than American, but it is the fruit that dominates.

Very drinkable now, not for cellaring. I'd like to see this wine in a less difficult vintage.

Crabtree Watervale Shiraz Picnic Hill Vineyard 2002 (review)

79 points.

Clare Valley. 13.5%

Rather plain and boring. With hard acidic edges. Disappointing. $18

Stringy Brae 2001 Clare Valley Shiraz (review)

88+ points

This wine burst onto our palates when first opened. Unbridled fruit flavours with great intensity. Not much oak and soft but persistent tannins. I liked the very subtle oak and almost imperceptable added acidity. This is a powerful, but amzingly not over the top tasting Shiraz with powerful dark fruits and a bit of chocolate. Very persistent length bodes well for some aging. Too easy to drink.

La Croix Chaptal Siegneurie de Cambous 2001

92 points

This is the winery partially owed by JP Couderc from Agro- Montpellier. The vineyard is mainly old vines planted near the town of Cambous about 45 minutes west of Montpellier. It is mainly Carignan with a bit of Grenache and Syrah. The nose was still closed, but had a bit of cinnamon spice and licorice. The same tones were in the wine along with a almost thick structure of fine tannins. No fruit sweetness, but still a bit dark red fruits and spicy overtones. The wine was made to "express the unique terroir of Cambous as it must have been in the 10th century when owned by the monks of gellone Abbey". This is one of the best Languedoc wines I have tasted.

Rockford 2000 Semillon

90 points
Well developed Semillon with some barrel fermentation. Still lemony and tart, but with a very round smooth palate. A hint of stony earthy characters.

Houghton 1995 Riesling

95 points

Simply a great example of an aged Riesling (bought from the cellar door last month). Beautiful fruit on the nose with some kero notes, but not too developed yet. The palate is smooth and round with lime and tart acidity. A bargain at $25.

Coudoulet de Beaucastel 1999 (review)

85 points

Cotes-Du-Rhone, France. 13.5%

Good vintage. Made by Beaucastel from the vineyard across the road from their Chateauneuf-du-Pape vineyard, supposedly in just the same way.

So I'm surprised that this is fairly straightforward. It's nice, the obvious Mouvedre giving the house style, but certainly less weighty and concentrated than expected.

I was hoping for a bargain. But as that the first bottle was corked it turned out to be rather expensive :-(

Kilikanoon blocks road Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

88+ points.

Clare Valley, South Australia. 14.5%

This is lovely for a warm climate cabernet. It's big and quite deeply fruited, yet not chocolatey. The oak is just right for this sort of fruit, not sweet, like freshly sawn timber, no esters of vanilla etc.

Approachable.

Worth buying. $22

Cascabel Tempranillo/Graciano 2002

88 points.

McLaren Vale, South Australia. 13.5%

Dark red. Probably the first decent Australian tempranillo I've tried. Yet I'm sure I had this wine when younger and it was hard and undrinkable. Now it is quite impressive, with black olive characters.

My only complaint is that the wine is a bit flat on its feet. In spite of the screwcap and cool 2002 vintage the acid is a somewhat dull.

Nyetimber chardonnnay blanc de blancs 1995

88 points.

West Chiltington, West Sussex, United Kingdom. 12%

The back label says that vines have been grown on this estate since the 12th century.

This is proof that the UK can make fine sparkling wine. Not entirely surprising given the cool climate, but it has been some while coming. Most English wine is far from exciting.

This is medium full-bodied with pronounced chardonnay fruit, and fine cool climate acidity. More 'New World' than I'd expected, with the weight to handle light food. Nicely developed for its age and best to drink now.

Chambers Rutherglen Blue Imperial 1998 (review)

80 points

Rutherglen, North East Victoria, Australia. 13.3%

Cinsault, a variety still widely used in regional French blends. I think this is the first time I've ever seen it in Australia.

Quite fresh fruit on the front palate, remarkable given its 8 years. Quite a lot of harsh limey tartaric acid, needless to say the wine is starting to through an acid crust.

I won't buy this again but it wasn't a bad wine with food. Simple, unpretentious, and refreshingly relatively light in alcohol by modern standards.

Faiveley Montagny 'les jones' 2000 review

85 points

Burgundy, France. 13%

A reasonably priced white burgundy, especially given that it was bought off retail shelves at nearly 6 years of age.

Quite strongly flavoured in a dry austere style with a surprising amount of French oak. I think with time this will fatten a tad, and the oak will subside. Like a minor claret, this is an interesting savoury wine that will age but doesn't have tightly concentrated flavours that will build complexity with age.

An interesting contrast to New World chardonnay.

Annies Lane Copper Trail Shiraz 2001 (review)

88 points.

Clare Valley, South Australia. 15%

Unfiltered sort of crimson deep red. Some trapped CO2 (not uncommon nowadays). This is a surprisingly young wine for 5 years of age - perhaps partly due to the screwcap enclosure (and maybe recent bottling).

Very polished winemaking. A big ripe wine yet with some elegance due to perfect balance of (added) acidity, and deft though sweet & cosmetic oak.

Yes, a show pony wine. But a good quality one. Though this is reflected in the price: $40 if you buy right, $55 if you don't.

Personally I find this boring for the price (even if you buy right). Yet I admire the pristine nature and the screwcap - with time it may be substantially better than many of its current peers.

PS recent winner of the "Great Australian Shiraz Challenge".

Knappstein Lenswood 1999 Palantine (review)

85 points

This version of Tim Knappsteins Bordeaux style red is a Merlot Malbec Cabernet blend from the Adelaide Hills. Very disappointing when opened, as the nose was tight and the palate mainly tannin and a bit of that was green. After slow drinking for about 90 minutes, the wine opened as much as it could. It never developed much of a nose beyond a bit of spice and deep red fruits, the palate softened and a range of flavours emerged, but all the while blanketed in tannin. At this time it started to look like a very good Bordeaux upon opening, but never developed much finesse afterwards.

Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz 2002

90 points (perhaps)

Clare Valley, South Australia. 14.5%

I'm giving this high points because of the deep varied aromas. It's a powerful and concentrated wine without being flat on its feet. That said it is hard to call it as fine and balanced when the mint toffee sweet oak is so apparent. I'm betting this will fade and at around 6-8 years of age will be a more palatable, and still impressive, wine.

Though, given the risk that I might be wrong, and given the price of around $35 I think I'd advise seeking out other Clare and indeed Kilakanoon wines rather than buying this. Unless of course that you really like confectionary oak.

Tim Smith WInes Shiraz 2002 (review)

85 points

Barossa Valley, South Australia. 14.5%

Dark unfiltered sort of colour (looks like there are fine particles in it). Old fashioned sort of nose - hot with tartaric acid giving greasepaint and (more as it gets older) leather aromas.

Big, strong, old fashioned sort of wine in spite of the French oak (new and used), groovy modern minimalist label, and (red) screwcap enclosure.

I was tipped off by Melbourne Street Wine Cellars to this wine, one of the early 2002 releases. They said this was a new winery, well priced, that was going to be cult, ie higher prices later. And all the packaging and french oak (unusual for Barossa shiraz) concurs. But I found the wine hard impenetrable when it was released. Now maybe 2 years later it is more accessible, and comes across like a good but unfashioned wine. There are many old established premium brands that deliver this sort of wine, like Penfolds.

Not really in the company of the new wave of Barossa wines as I previously thought.

To be blunt there is simply too much added acid in this wine, not that it is out of balance, the need for the acid was created in the vineyard.

Gembrook Hill Mayer Vineyard Pinot Noir 2004 (review)

85 points.

Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. 13.2%

Considered an exciting new producer, this is a small project (only 16 barrels made) of the winemaker.

For such a young wine it is very approachable. Light red in colour, warm but not super concentrated aromas, sweetish fruit somewhat light strawberry jam-ish though largely managing to veer away from this.

Quite attractive but not exciting. Drink now or over the next 2-3 years. $27

Montnousseau Vouvray 'Blanc de Blancs' 2001 (review)

85 points.

Loire, France. 12%

Gorgeous nose, older Chenin Blanc with beeswax, young pear and tiny touch of sulpher. A drink now forward Vouvray with nice residual sweetness. Drink by itself or with savoury nibbles. Good value.

Warramate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 (review)

86 points

Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. screwcap

Outstanding young colour, deep black purple with crimson flashes.

Surprising then that this wine is silky and approachable. It is quite opulent. Dry grown (completely non irrigated) fruit with considerable concentration. Exotic, blackcurrant fruit. But in a warm climate style. I might pick this for a cool vintage wine from McLaren Vale, or another warm Australian region, but not the Yarra Valley.

Interesting certainly. But not profound, lacks balance, not food friendly at all. Hard to drink, rather than taste, and that isn't due to its age. Nevertheless good value. And I'd sure it would upstage many more well known and more expensive Australian cabernets in a tasting. $19

Wine Auctions

I agree that wine auctions are perhaps the clearest indication of a wine's financial worth. Of course they are driven by rarity rather than objective quality, but nonetheless they represent a wide view of a wine's worth. However, auction indices, like any indices are sensitive to what is in the 'basket' to be indexed. Bordeaux in general has gone downwards in terms of price, while the top growths have gone upwards. So the index value depends on what is included. The Bordelais are about to pull out over 25% of their hectarage, so it is not surprising that overall the index is down.

John Loxton Regional Selection 2004 Barbera King Valley

85+
Left over from a party, this wine is an obvious attempt at an Australian version of Italian wines for the lower end drinker. Initially the nose was a fruity cherry and old oak and the palate sweet with a lingering acidity. After airing for an hour (while 3/4 of the bottle disappeared), the nose and palate have lessened in fruitiness and picked up some savory and leathery notes, almost a bit of saddle soapiness. The acidity is still high, but it tastes natural (As Barbera has high normal acidity). The alcohol is not noticably high (13%), so this is really a food wine with a bit too much overt fruitiness. The label says the range is bottled by Vinpac, which makes it a Fosters or perhaps a Cellarmasters selection. Someone pencilled in 2007 on the label, which is perhaps when it should be drunk, but it's too late for that.

Auction prices

Decanter magazine publishes an auction index for Bordeaux. Currently the index, set in December 1996, is at 117.6 (ie up only 17%) that's below the inflation rate over the same 9 year period. Very odd, unbelievable actually, unfortunately they do not explain fully how they calculate their index.

Langton's the Australian auction house maintains an index set at 1000 in 1991 it is now slightly over 2000. If it had only risen with inflation it should be at 1400 now. Oddly though the index reached 2500 in 1999 after which it dropped and has been flat for 5 years now.

Wine auction indices are somewhat odd in that a single vintage typically rises in price then stalls and even can decline, eventually vintages have to be removed and new ones added. Wine auction indices seem really only useful for comparing changes over a few years.

Koonowla Shiraz 2000 (review)

80 points.

Clare Valley, 14.5%

At near 6 years of age this shows age on the nose (touch of leather and mustiness), but strong colour.

But so SWEET and simple. Not much point in cellaring this, there are plenty of current vintage wines that can deliver the same foreceful sweet flavour. Disappointing.

Chateau Pato 'old Pokolbin vineyard' shiraz 2003 (review)

87 points

Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. 14.5% screwcap.

Lots of different flavours, all over the place, so let me sum up the wine first... a sleek soft fat alcoholic sweet wine with savoury tones - some 2000 Chateaunef-du-Pape wines come (somewhat) close in style. Very approachable.

Sweet but saved by smokey oak. And the slightly cowshed finish is attractive - really.

Something of a show pony wine yet not in the commercial show style, sort of show pony for the cognoscenti. $27

More on fine wine prices

Back in 1984 a bottle of 1st growth Bordeaux bought pre-arrival from a good merchant cost about A$100 (up in famous vintages down in others). In recent years it has been more than A$400 ($700 in 2003). Adjusted for inflation it should be around A$225.

Looks like fine wine has been getting more expensive.

Rate of inflation in fine wine prices

How fast do fine wine prices rise ? Presumably above the rate of inflation, making them worthy of investment. My analysis suggests they are rising at far above the (US) inflation rate.

I found an old indent offer for 1982 Bordeaux, apparently published around late 1984. I entered the prices (which included tax and duty) for several wines for which I also had pre-arrival prices from the 2000 vintage. Both vintages were hot, with high demand so seemed fair comparisons.

The wines were:
Chateau Palmer
L'Evangile
Leoville Poyferre
Haut Bailly
Figeac
Chasse Spleen
Haut Bages Averous

The combined 1982 vintage prices (in 1984) were A$228. The combined 2000 vintage prices were A$1767.

Adjusted for inflation (1984 - 2003) the same bundle of wines in 2003 should have cost only $400 !

In other words they should cost about double what a similar group of young wines should have cost in 1984, but they actually cost about 8 times as much.

Now this seems ridiculous. Perhaps the 2000 prices were just absurdly high, even compared to 1982. So with a different bundle of wines I compared 1982 to 2004 (2004 had prices way down on 2000). The wines were:
Palmer
L'Evangile
Leoville Poyferre
Margaux
Lafite
Haut Brion
Pavie
Pichon Baron

The 1982 bundle was $527, and the 2004 bundle was $1410. Inflation adjusted the 1982 vintage bundle should cost only $975 in 2005. Again fine wine price rises way above inflation.

And is it really fair to compare the stellar 1982 vintage with the fairly good value vintage of 2004 ?

Also I'm using prices in Australia (which are subject to changes in Australian tax and some local costs) but a US inflation adjustment. I found an Australian inflation adjustor and while it gives a higher current value of the 1982 bundle of $1200 there seems little doubt that fine wine prices are outpacing inflation.

PS the Australian inflation adjustor says the first 1982 bundle should cost less than $500 in 2003 (not the $1700 that the 2000 vintage wines actually sold for).

New World wine lake ?

Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser reports that Australian wineries currently have one billion litres of unsold wine, equivilent to 2/3rds of the 2005 vintage with a record 2006 harvest about to begin.

With bumper harvests in California too there is a lot of unsold wine sloshing around. Grape growers will feel the pain of drastically reduced prices for their grapes. While consumers should see some price reductions too, as wine brands fiercely compete for custom.

But I don't expect fine wine prices to fall, they never seem to.

The Wilson Vineyard Polish Hill Shiraz 2001 (review)

84 points

Polish Hill, Clare, South Australia.

Nice label. Stelvin screwcap.

A brambly shiraz built for the long term - sort of but rather old fashioned aromas and flavours of milky lanolin oak and tartaric acid. Young but old (fashioned).

Chateau Patache d'Aux 1996 & 2000 (review)

88 points/ pnts

Medoc, Bordeaux, France.

This is near the bottom of the Bordeaux fine wine pyramid. One of the better cru bourgeois chateaux of the Medoc, that can be bought en primeur or pre-arrival in Australia for $25.

1996 was a good vintage for parts of the Medoc, and cabernet in particular. This wine has an unusually low proportion of Merlot in the blend (only 20% in 1996, 30% in 2000) with 70% cabernet sauvignon.

At almost 10 years of age this is drinking very well. Fully integrated oak. Soft yet reasonably flavoursome, with nice touches of leather and only the slightest oxidation. Everything I'd hope for in a wine at this price level. Savoury, food friendly.

2000 'perhaps the greatest vintage ever' is a slightly bigger wine (note the 13% alcohol on the label, personally I think the wine probably doesn't quite reach this level). There is a slight hard greenness (vegetal rather than herbaceous super green like old NZ cabernets) which makes me wonder if the 1996 is/was not the better wine.

Paired against the older wine this now smells of oak esters - marzipan and a touch of 'Frangelico' liqueur. It wouldn't smell like this without its partner wine alongside. Interesting, highlights the value of vertical tastings.

Having seen how gracefully the 1996 developed I'm much more upbeat about this 2000. Previously I'd thought it a bit dilute and green.

All in all, good quality humble fine Bordeaux. A contrast to the unbalanced power of most cheaper New World cabernets.

Guigal Cotes du Rhone 2003

87 points

Southern Rhone, France. 13%

Surprisingly approachable and not at all baked or hefty. Very well handled fruit given the extraordinarily hot vintage. There is tannin certainly but it isn't immediately obvious. The wine is already drinking well, and will presumably gain a little complexity over the next 5 years.

Slightly sweeter than the Crozes-Hermitage (reviewed below), also more body.

If you want a $20 French wine that won't disappoint your guests (esp those not familiar with French wines) then this is your wine. Very good for what it is, though I am a little puzzled by its popularity in Australia (where there are similar but more flavourful competitors).

M Chapoutier 'Les Meysonniers' Crozes-Hermitage 2000

84 points

Southern Rhone, France. 13%

I was surpirsed to see flashes of crimson when I first poured this - at almost 6 years of age, in a v.good but not outstanding vintage and for one of the earliest drinking of Northern Rhone appellations. The wine has ever so slightly above average acidity which may explain the good colour.

This is a well made food friendly wine without great varietal character, weight, or concentration. Pretty good for what it is.

Top wines tasted in 2005

The top 3 wines on this blog were:
Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2002 and Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2002
Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1996


For the commercial wine of the year I'd nominate Tyrrells Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2003.

I've picked over the blog to list all the 90+ point wines that there is a not unreasonable chance of being able to buy still.

Brini Blewitt Springs Shiraz 2002

Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2001

Rockford Moppa Springs 1999

Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz 2002

Tresmoulis 2000 Corbieres

Chateau Leoville Barton 2001 and 1999

Massena Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2004

Moss Wood Cabernet 2001

Mr Riggs Shiraz 2003

Tyrrells Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2003

Robert Chevillon Nuits St-Georges 'Les Roncieres' 2002

Chateau Croix de Gay 2001

Roger Sabon Chateauneuf de Pape 'cuvee prestige' 2000

Voyager Estate shiraz 2002

Torbreck The Struie shiraz 2003

Browns of Padthaway Ernest shiraz 2002

Peter Lehmann 8 songs shiraz 2000

Chateau Rollan de By 2001

Henriques & Henriques Madeira Malmsy 15 yo

Greenock Creek apricot block shiraz 1999

Chateau Senechaux Chateauneuf-Du-Pape 2001

Winter Creek Barossa Shiraz 2002

Laurona 2000
Chateau Potensac 2000

Noon Eclipse 2003

This wine is one we rarely get to taste. They open the cellar door for 2 weekends and sell out. Some friends of mine did the line up and waiting, so we tried it last night after a day of eating and drinking more mediocre wines.

88 points

Some people would give this wine much higher ratings, and I have to admit it is easy to drink and very powerful. It has very ripe red fruits, not really overextracted, but more port-like in the sense of ripeness. It has a bit of residual sugar, which though a bit strange reduces the potential alcohol a bit. I don't know what food I would recommend- we just drank while talking. The bottle doesn't say what the blend it, but it seemed to me to have mainly Shiraz with some very ripe Grenache.

Halliday's palate

In response to Byron's and other comments about Halliday's high rating of Melton's 2002 Cabernet: Halliday himself says he is 'generous' with his Australian tasting notes. The use of numerical scores for wines highlights the problems of rating scales in general (sorry to be so academic). When reading any wine writer's reviews, one must take into account the palate of the reviewer. We do so when reading Robert Parker, and should so the same with Halliday. He is easily overcome by high fruit and alcohol levels as well as oak. He doesn't mind added acidity. I read a few more reviews of the 2002 Melton Cab. Most rated it below 95 and all praised it as a good example of Barossa Cab, none compared it to any classical style (Bordeaux) cabs.

Halliday does not taste blind; either did we, so our opinions have to be influenced by what we expect to be drinking and of course what our personal preferences are. I happen to like Barossa style wines, like Charles Melton, Rockford, and some of Torbreck's lower priced (and lower oaked) wines. It may have to do with familiarity (I don't drink much Bordeaux), but I really liked those 2 top Bordeaux. I guess I like ripe grapes and tanins on par with the fruit level of the wines. I don't shy away from higher alcohols like Byron (and Jordan Louviere), but I do like them in balance with the rest of the wine.

Chateau Saint-Michel 2000 (review)

77 points

Canon Fronsac, Bordeaux, France.

I'm a fan of Bordeaux but let me pan this wine because it reeks of acid (some added), making it really limey and rather poor to drink. The colour is great, and a deep sniff reveal marizipan but everything is let down on the palate.

I suspect that ripe grapes were let down by bad winemaking decisions.

1st Growth Wine Tasting

Chateau Puygueraud 2002 Bordeaux Cotes de Francs 87 points
Leconfield Coonawarra Cabernet 2004 83 points
Charles Melton Barossa Valley Cabernet 2002 87+ points
Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2002 Pauillac Bordeaux 95+ points
Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2002 Pauillac Bordeaux 93+ points
St Supery Cabernet 1999 Napa Valley 90 points

We started with the Puygueraud half bottle for context. A lovely fresh savoury light wine with some tannin. Should drink and age well over the next 5+ years. Lacks substantial concentration but is very food friendly still. Classic budget claret, excellent cafe/restaurant wine.

Leconfield Cabernet in comparision was all fresh sweet acidic fruit with considerable herbaceousness. Surprisingly approachable for such a young wine, very pleasant. Yet later when we came back to this wine it tasted green and unpleasant. Very interesting addition to the tasting.

Charles Melton's 2002 Cabernet was another stark contrast. I thought the nose was a bit like some classic Aussie reds of the past (many Cabernet Shiraz blends) warm and with a touch of grease paint - personally I found this quite attractive though it won't appeal to everyone. There was also quite a lot of other exotic oaky chocolate mocha aromas. Not a particularly varietal (cabernet) wine. A syrupy wine, like some South African wines. Pretty nice to drink even without food. Somewhat choclate milkshake in style. The alcohol is a bit hot and noticeable. Some poeple have used the word 'elegance' when describing Barossa cabernet from the cool balanced 2002 vintage - it's a bit of a stretch. Certainly though there is far less evident added acidity, the wines are fresher and will be less leathery with age. Drink now to enjoy the modern winemaking or leave for a few years for it to settle down into maybe a slightly less sweet traditional Australian red.

The nose on the Lafite was quite a shock I thought, in terms of power and concentration. It had the sort of lead pencil and blackcurrant aromas one should expect but the intensity was arresting. Without tasting this wine it is very obvious that it is extremely young, and is built to age. The colour, needless to say, was very dark and shiny. This is very concentrated but not at all syrupy or hefty. Very savoury with plenty of fine tannin. The first taste wiped my mouth clean of flavour, not to suggest that the wine is ethereal, but very tightly bundled and tannic. This wine has real breed, power without weight, and great complexity. It should age superbly and for a long while.

The Mouton was more exotic, a bit more clumsy (hardly a criticism given it is only a baby - perhaps one year in bottle) with sweeter mocha tones of oak. There also seems to be more alcohol, certainly a bit more gylcerol weight and the heroic tannins are more chewy. Very rich and pretty exciting. A bit more showy than the Lafite, serious wine but less classic. With time I expect the differences between these two wines will narrow a tad. Personally I think the sheer style and restraint of the Lafite is more exciting but it is very much down to personal taste. Nice to see difference in style between these neighbours.

St Supery 1999 was a pleasant relief compared to all of the very young wines above. Closer to a bordeaux than to the Australian wines, not syrupy and less hefty than many Californian wines I have tried. 13.8% alcohol which is not bad relatively speaking. Reminded me of some good quality NZ cabernets with well handled french oak and classic tiny touch of herbaceousness, classic winemaking. There is cool climate fruit here. The extra 3+ years in bottle this wine had over the others made it much more drinkable. A nice food wine; less savoury than bordeaux and far less concentrated and complex than the first growths.

LORINON Tinto Crianza Bodegas Breton 2001 (review)

88 points.

Rioja, Spain. 12.5%

Lovely soft squashy fruited Temprinillo. With a nice touch of savoury oak influence (I'm not sure how the Spanish do this with American oak). A very enjoyable wine. Without high alcohol.

An excellent cafe wine. Drink now or over the next year or two. $25.

PS 2001 was a very good vintage in Spain.

Red Nectar Barossa Valley Shiraz 2004 (review)

??

Barossa Valley, South Australia. 14%

Inky dark. A concentrated wine with some tart acidity. Honestly I find it near impossible to assess such a wine so young. Weird to think that probably 80% of this wine will be consumed within the next 6 months.

Murdock Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 (review)

87 points

Dark even colour, nice shine. Fruit driven aromas, brambley with mint. This is a sleek concentrated wine. Plenty of blackcurrant fruit, some nice gylcerol and restrained alcohol. It is very noticeably Coonawarra, but thankfully without over the top mintiness.

Very much a fruit driven wine. Quite lovely and approachable. With a reasonably long life ahead of it.

But if you prefer more serious savoury wine you'd wonder what all the fuss it about. This wine is a darling of the critics, James Halliday recently gave it 97 points. It's made by Peter Bissell the Qantas/Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine winemaker of the year (he makes Balnaves and Parker Estate).

What I like most about it is the restrained alcohol. It's a premium wine, a worthy competitor to the top Western Australian (and Californian) cabernets. A reminder that Coonawarra is one of the serious cabernet regions of the world.

What I don't like about it is the rather simple yet full throttle fruit flavour.

WAIT ON.. I wrote this before I had it with food.

Let me revise somewhat to say it is more old fashioned (eg added acid) and overt fruit than I give the impression (above). Wine critics ! They taste (rather than drink) too much - when they do they find it hard to revise their prior ratings (for many obvious and non-obvious reasons).

Bottom line - I won't buy another bottle. Even for the reduced (now around $35 - odd the price has been coming down in spite of the rave critic reviews) price.

Lengs & Cooter old vines Shiraz 2000 (review)

85 points

Clare Valley, South Australia. 14%

Not the Arnold Schwarzenegger, monolithic blockbuster, sort of wine I expected from this producer. Rather classic Clare flavours in a medium weight wine, with tartaric acid a background flavour (rather than a hard finish). Quite nice

Very soft, not creamy or svelte, virtually no tannin to speak of.

Voyager Estate Chenin Blanc 2004 (review)

79 points

Margaret River, Western Australia. 13%

Clean, very soft acids, some retained sugar, somewhat commercial. I hoped for something a bit more exciting from this producer.

Craggy Range Sophia 2002 (review)

83 points

Gibblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, North Island, New Zealand. 14%

Merlot & Cabernet Franc blend.

I've rated this wine that has been praised by Parker and others rather low. Because I found it very hard to drink, it is very powerful, concentrated, but with harsh yet dullish added acidity. It's premium wne, a show pony wine, no doubt, yet I expect it will age into a something of a leathery dull wine.

This is Californian wine making comes to New Zealand.

Less confectionery than some of the Villa Maria wines, but in something of the same ilk.

Expensive.

Domaine Bachelot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Les Corbeaux 2003

92 points

Burgundy, France. 13%

Given as a gift to me on the condition it not be cellared. Hence a review of a very young burgundy.

Monolithic wine. Very very concentrated, very tight yet huge hot flavours, but nothing jammy or confectionery like a grenache, substantial tannin. Undrinkable without food. With food very enjoyable, power without fruity sweetness or high alcohol.

Very impressive, though I think I'd prefer a less hot vintage.

Puriri Hills Reserve 2002 (review)

86 points

From Clevedon, New Zealand.

I bought two bottles of this wine after reading a good review partly because I was born in Ness Valley, Clevedon, New Zealand. There are now a number of wineries there, some of real quality.

This is a Merlot dominant bordeaux blend.

Quite stylish, very nice savoury oak. Not a syrupy alcoholic wine as many top NZ reds from 2002 are. A very impressive early start for this winery, as the critics have said. Elegant fine wine, though lacking in serious backbone and depth. Certainly none of the fruit cake ripeness of a St.Emilion or Pomerol. Good acid, matches well to food, will drink best in a couple of years, not for long term cellaring.

Young vines show.

What really disappoints me about this wine is the pricing. NZ$50 from the winery, and nearby village shops. This is no way to build a brand and gain serious attention. This is MBA pricing (the owner has an MBA). And their other lesser wines are at $32 - even less appealing. Wineries with no track record can't justify these prices. I disagree with Bob Cambell who argues that this is worth buying while you can, ie suggesting this will soon be an unobtainable superstar wine (and at higher prices still). A better bet is that this is probably as good a wine as they will ever make. Many well run, well funded wineries make great starts but ultimately its the vineyard that decides their potential and most probably it will be modest.

I note that Arahura a nearby neighbour in Ness Valley Clevedon started with some impressive young vine bordeaux blends. 5+ years on they have failed to beat this start.

Palandri Reserve Margaret River Cabernet 2000

87 points- a bit too oaky on the nose, but very juicy fruity on the nose and palate. It has a minty aftertaste with soft tannins and good lingering flavour. Definitely Cabernet character, but of the riper briary fruit type, rather than the cooler more vegetative style. Probably too expensive to slurp (it was a gift), but we enjoyed slurping!!

Les Servieres 2001 Cinsault

88 points- This wine comes form a single vineyard near Montpellier (Vin de Pays l'Herault). It is from 100 year old Cinsault vines. Cinsault is typically used as a blending variety in Languedoc. It is a high yielding and quite acid grape, but here with obvious low yields, it was a bit like Grenache with a bit more berry on the nose. It had a fruit and yet earthy nose with a smooth palate with no obvious oak. It was probably in old oak barrels. I had no idea what to expect, but was happy to drink the wine with a spicy fish stew- no rough edges and fun to drink.

Bob does Oz

Robert Parker's annual report on Australia is out for 2005. 852 wines (out of 3000+ tasted !) selected as scoring more than 83 points.

Parker says that old vine Shiraz and Grenache from Barossa, Clare, & McLaren Vale and the fortifieds from Rutherglen are our greatest treasures. And he was pleasantly surprised by the very high quality of our Rieslings.

But Australian critics are likely to be surprised by his restrained enthusiasm for some of our cool climate icons.

In part this is Parker's taste. He prefers bigger, richer wines (I'm sure he cut his teeth on Californian wines). But his is also an international (ie not Australian) perspective. Warm climate reds are what Australia does best. Barossa shiraz can be truly unique on the world stage. Australians can sometimes undervalue it because there is so much of it available locally. Whereas a cool climate shiraz from say Canberra is a refreshing change and therefore is sometimes overvalued.

To say that Shiraz is the wine that Australia does best, and that Australian Cabernet is comparatively weak or plain poor is relatively uncontroversial to an overseas wine critic, but would shock many Australians.

All in all the Australian wine industry should be pleased with Parker. He gives a lot of praise and effectively does a great deal to promote Australian fine wine. And if he does write "of course, there is plenty of industrial crap that I wasted days tasting through" - we all know he is right.

Chateau Les Grands Marechaux 2003

Premieres Cotes de Blaye. 14.5%

Previous vintages of this wine from a humble Bordeaux appelation have been impressive, great value. This 2003 is freaky, obviously reflecting the super hot vintage it is more like a Rhone wine than Bordeaux. Or dry port.

I don't think I've ever seen 14.5% alcohol actually listed on a Bordeaux label before.

I'm not willing to give this wine a point score. Too young, too weird (and I have a cold). But my first impression of 2003 is not that favourable.

Chateau Senejac 2000 (review)

87+ points

Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France.

Medium bodied, savoury, quite a lot of French oak still showing. Quite fine. Good with food. As Clive Coates would say "quite good for what it is". Needs more time.

Wine Spectator described this as a "soft silky red" - it is not. Wine like this from 2000 remind me that many people will prefer wines from 2001 and 2002 rather than this "greatest vintage ever". In 2000 even some 'value chateaux' made wines that are fairly stern, built for the medium to long term.

Give this 2-3 more years.

Poliziano Nobile di Montepulciano 2001 (review)

85+ points.

Tuscany, Italy. 14%

Odd wine. Smells like bread, very yeasty - not sure what this means ! Incredibly tannic, it has been a long while since I have tasted a wine with such upfront (and continuing) tannin. Underneath there is some firm fruit, and the wine is quite attractive with food. But a bit of a mystery.

Coldstream Hills Pinot Noir 2002 (review)

88 points.

Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia.

A serious but easy going Pinot. Quite a lot of ripe sweet fruit, some balancing savoury tones, and nice sappy acid. The flavour lasts, and it is easy to accurately recall the wine the following day.

I bought several bottles some time ago because I felt this was a fairly serious effort, a step above prior vintages with no increase in price. Note this is not the reserve version. About $20.

Drink now, and over the next couple of years.

Prieure Ste Maried Albas, Clos de Cassis 2000 Corbieres

Sometimes you open a bottle of wine, which you can't remember acquiring, and even if maybe it was a couple of years too young, it is so much fun, you can make up all kinds of stories about where it came from. THis bottle of Corbieres might have been given to me by a friend or maybe we visited a small rustic stone walled cellar and drank a dark licorice berry scented wine on a cool but sunny afternoon in October in stony olive coloured castle strewn Corbiere. Either way the wine is 5 years old, but dark purple, almost shiny in the glass. My guess it is made from Grenache, Carignane, Mouvedre, and maybe Cinsault. It has ripe earthy, but red fruity taste, with lots of smooth and noticeable tannins. All in all something you just don't taste everyday. It is a bit rustic, not perfectly balanced, but yummmm!

Brini Blewitt Springs Shiraz 2002 (review)

90+ points

Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale, South Australia. 14.5%

Deep dark colour.

Surprising nose, lifted but dense tight fruit aromas and extraordinary oak - a new interpretation of American oak, obvious but quite lovely, not in any way sweet and cloying.

Poised bright clear fruit. Ripe but not fat. Very polished without being a show pony. A smidge limey (tartaric acid, but to be expected for warm climate shiraz).

Quite a beautiful young shiraz from a traditional "big Aussie" shiraz region. Shows a good deal of finesse - not typical. An intense concentrated but drinkable wine.

Should have an interesting future.

Great value at $17.

Arundel Shiraz 2002 (review)

88+ points

Keilor, Victoria, Australia.

Very dark with a touch of crimson. Complex, brambly, tight acidic wine. Very much a food wine now, and quite closed. A dark horse. Potentially very good.

Great to see this sort of handcrafted, vinous wine from Australia. Fair price $30.

Rockford Moppa Springs 1999

90 points (2003 vintage about $28)

This is your typical/atypical Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre. Typical, because it is ripe, fruit forward, tannic. But atypical, because it is rather light in colour (you can see through it), light in oak (no noticable nose or taste), more toward the leathery furit (if you can say that), not candy flavoured or grippy tannins. Rocky likes to call it medium bodied and it is. It is very soft, but still tannic with a long finish, some spicey notes there. the alcohol is a bit too noticeable but not overwhelming. One of the better Barossa versions because of subtlety.

Villa Maria reserve Merlot 2002 (review)

82 points.

Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. 14.5%

Very very dark and shiney.

Quite closed aromas, tiny whiff of smoke, and a little simple.

Fresh merlot fruit with obvious and rather deft oak handling. The 14.5% alcohol is not noticeable. Flavours are simple, concentrated. Leaves a slight coconut ice finish in the mouth - not nice.

This is an ultra modern well crafted wine. A real show pony. And to be honest not a lot of fun to drink. Very manufactured. It is less sumptuous than top Australian cabernets like Moss Wood, less creamy, but still likely to stand out in wine tastings, and to do very well at wine shows.

Sadly a lot of winemakers are seeing this style as a (commercially successful) benchmark to aspire to.

Aluminum poisoning ?

The September 2005 Decanter magazine features a letter from Dr Chris Exley of Keele University who points out that it is not known whether Stelvin screwcap enclosures can release aluminum into wine.

aluminum is a known neurotoxin, and our bodies have no need for it. So while screwcaps may be perfectly safe, we don't know what the risks are yet.

I checked out Dr Exley's credentials (in case his PhD was in some unrelated field like Medieval History) and he is a chemist who has done considerable work on aluminum toxicity. That said few of his publications that I was able to read online featured much in the way of findings, most are calls for research. And this is what he is doing with this letter to Decanter.

I think there is no doubt now that screwcaps are superior to cork for preserving wine quality, but this aluminum issue needs to be investigated.

PS Yes soft drink cans are made from aluminum.

Taltarni Shiraz 2002 (review)

87 points

Pyrenees, Victoria, Australia. 14%

This is a beautifully balanced shiraz, pristine and polished. Not at all like the solid, tannic Taltarni shiraz of the late 70s when they began.

The addition of viogner is noticeable, too much so for me. There is a floral, rose, character to this wine that I really don't expect in Shiraz. With age I think this will fade, the wine will fatten, and the shiraz and terrior will assert itself more.

If you like fresh, graceful, elegant shiraz/viogner then drink now. For more flavour and character wait a few years.

Rust en Vrede shiraz 2000 (review)

83 points

Stellenbosch, South Africa. 13.5%

Dark red colour. Odd aromas vegetal smokey. Afterwhich the palate is a surprising, reassuring hit of sweet fruit. With food it seems more savoury, though somewhat swamped.

Shiraz is a rising star in South Africa. This is a very modest success from an acclaimed red wine specialist.

Chateau les Grands Marechaux 2000

88+ points

Premieres Cotes de Blaye, Bordeaux, France.

The 2002 of this wine is starting to settle down a bit into a nicely made, savoury, medium weight, quite classic minor claret.

This 2000 has more stuffing, more new oak too. This reflects the vintage differences.

From a very humble bordeaux appellation this is a wine of great value. A savoury food wine, ripe but without the powerful pristine fruit of some classed growths.

Balnaves the blend 2002 (review)

83 points

Coonawarra, South Australia. 14%

Blend of Merlot, Cabernet and Cabernet Franc.

Nice soft leafy aromas, with a touch of nice oak. Palatte is soft, sweet, simple. Pleasant and commercial. I expected more from this producer.

Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir 2003

86 points

Mornington Pennisula, Victoria, Australia.

A new Pinot Noir specialist that is getting quite a bit of press attention. And all the 2003 Mornington Penninsula wines seem to be praised.

This is dark, full, soft. Quite rich, somewhat one-dimensional but young. Low acidity suggests a life of only a few years. Good cafe/restaurant wine.

Kooyong also put out more expensive single vineyard wines. This is $35.

1985 Great Western (NY) Vidal Ice Wine

i think the cork on this ine allowed a little too much oxygen in- probably wasn't designed to hold it this long. I got the wine from a friend, who worked for Great Western Winery, which was part of the Taylor's Company in the Finger Lakes of NY; it is now part of Constellation, but the brand does not exist anymore. In those days this was an experimental wine; ice wines were just being trialled in Canada (only 100 mles away) and in various parts of NY State. the wine was incredibly intense and long flavoured, but very brown looking, sweet but with very high natural acidity (1.3 grams- where typical Australain wines might be 0.3-0.6). the flvour was grapey- like ripe grapes tasted but with peachy and nectarine overtones. I left some out to try again tonight to see how it tastes when I am a bit more sober.(Yesterday was our 25th wedding anniversary). Vidal is a French American hybrid grape, mainly from Ugni Blanc and grows really well, but makes relatively insipid wines. However, it lasts on the vine a long time and develops interesting stone fruit flavours and stays there until freezing- which many grpaes don't do. Inniskillen and other cnadian producers use it as well, so you might see it if you are looking at ice wines.

Henschke 1993 Mt Edelstone Shiraz

Once it a while we get to drink great wines. This one certainly was a really good wine, though I am not sure it was great. Still reddish in hue, though with a slight amount of brown tones, very aromatic of plums and blueberries, not much oak on the nose. The flavour was concentrated and very long, the indication of great grapes and wine making. It was a little less complex than I imagined, but did have nice developed earthy and leathery nuances. The fruit seemed really ripe and did not have the subtle black pepper that I expected. It was certainly Australian and not Rhone. I got it on sale in 1995 for about $25.

Richard Hamilton Hut Block Cabernet Suavignon 2002

86 points

McLaren Vale, South Australia.

Made by ex-Rouge Homme winemaker Paul Gordon this is quite dark and tannic, with a good deal of acid too. There is nice ripe simple blackcurrent fruit to blance. The total package is commercial but a cut above.

James Halliday gave it 94 points which is either a hefty bonus for good value (this is about $15) or just an over-the-top rating for a wine that shows nice winemaking, and good quality but straightforward fruit.

Good wine, good example of the great quality of the cool 2002 vintage in South Australia.

Reynell 'basket pressed' cabernet sauvignon 1998 (review)

84 points.

McLaren Vale, South Australia.

Very dark colour with some purple hints still, has thrown a light crust and there are ultra fine tartaric crystals floating in the wine (reflecting the substantial degree of added acidity).

Smells hot, rustic, savoury, tinned tobacco - will be leathery with a little more age.

Rugged dense short palate. Sweet simple tomato leaf flavour and rather fairly hard, dark chocolate, tannic acid finish. The finish is rather dominant, the fruit flavour short.

Looking at the number of gold medals and trophies on the label I know that I'm really out of step with Australian wine show judges, at least when it comes to cabernet. And so is Anne who tasted the wine completely blind - her initial comment "too limey (added acid), and worse with food, can I have the other wine (Chateau Puygueraud 2002) instead please"

It is an amazing (very hard work), and very artificial, task that wine show judges do. Little wonder that they consistently admire some odd wines.

This wine: heroic, dense, dull, dumb. No finesse.

The Tucker Seabrook Perpetual Trophy for the "Most Successful Wine of the Show Circuit" in Australia over the past 12 months.

96 points James Halliday
95 points Jeremy Oliver

Banrock Station - environmental credentials

Banrock Station is a brand of the Hardy's Wine Company and refers to vineyards located on the Murry River in South Australia. They have recently been advertising how money from the sale of each bottle goes to help preserve endangered Australian wildlife - flora and fauna. Which in the fairly boring world of wine advertising gives them something to say and stand out.

Yet I wondered how valid are their environmental claims ? This is still Riverland wine, made by irrigating grapevines with precious water from the Murray River. And on land that was once slow growing mallee forest (90% of South Australia's malle has been cut down).

I visited their web site, which while not the most objective source is very informative. Indeed it is a superb site which even features a Quicktime vitual tour and a live webcam where you can control the camera view.

It includes information not just on their philanthropy (donations from bottles sales go to wetland environmental causes in 10 different countries), but also on their viticultural practices to save water use. There are just 600 acres (245 hecares) of wines on 3,400 acres (1375 hecares) of bush and wetlands which are being restored after a century of rabbit and stock grazing.

I'm impressed. And while Banrock Station don't exactly make fine wine (they do a good job at making everyday wine) I'm very keen now to visit the vineyards and tourist centre they run at Kingston-On-Murray, South Australia about 2 hours drive from Adelaide.

Wolf Blass Grey Label shiraz 2002 (review)

90 points

Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale. 15%

I previously reviewed the Wolf Blass Gold Label 2002 shiraz which I wasn't too enamoured by. I felt the fruit was simply too commercial and nice winemaking couldn't make up for this. Then I heard about this grey label wine, and its incredible show success, and price $29. But surely gold label would be a more premium wine than grey label ? Apparently not (ask the Wolf Blass marketing dept to explain).

This is a sleek, soft, sexy, supple wine. An interesting fruit driven, low tannin, blend from the heartland of South Australian shiraz (Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale). Exotic aromas, complex (American and French) oak and not overdone. It carries its 15% alcohol effortlessly, and drinks well without food - which must in part explain its success in wine shows (see below).

Even without this wine show success I would describe it as a sophisticated show pony wine, the lovely balance and fruit clarity is both enjoyable and a tad boring; I wonder if it has the character and backbone to age into something great, but the price and stelvin screwcap enclosure make it an attractive gamble. I'm going to buy a few more bottles (quickly before it disappears from retail shelves).

James Halliday gave it 94 points. I'm not so impressed the pristine modern winemaketing style (what I call white wine makers' red wine making).

The show record:

Wine Press Club Trophy Best Shiraz in Show - 2004 Royal Adelaide Wine Show

Max Schubert Trophy Best Red Wine in Show - 2004 Royal Adelaide Wine Show

The Winery Supplies Trophy for the Best Shiraz - 2005 Royal Melbourne Wine Show

Top Gold Medal - 2004 Royal Adelaide Wine Show

Gold Medal - 2003 Royal Queensland Wine Show
Gold Medal - 2005 Royal Melbourne Wine Show
Gold Medal - 2004 Royal Hobart Wine Show
Gold Medal - 2004 Royal Sydney Wine Show

Seppelt Sunday Creek Pinot Noir 1999 (review)

84 points

Victoria, Australia. 13.5%

We bought several dozen of this wine when the brand was being shut down in one of many rationalisations by the Penfolds group. An awful blue label - perhaps not surprisingly this wine always was sold cheap, but in the end was sold off on special at a ridulously low A$8. Shortly after the subsequent vintage (which never saw the light of day under this brand) won some wine show trophies - which must have caused the marketing dept some heatache.

Now 6 years old the 1999 is surprisingly together (unusual for Australian Pinot Noir). Quite dark, with touch of brown rim. Soft yet varietal nose (some rose petals even). Rich quite forceful palate with a refreshing finish. It has fattened with age and is now the best bottles are quite solid burgundy. Odd bottles show excessive oxidation - this was before most 'downunder' pinot began being bottled with stelvin screwcap enclosures, this 1999 has a cheap cork.

For the price this wine is extraordinary value. And a sign perhaps that quality pinot noir can be made in some volume. Cheap quality Pinot may be possible.

Yering Station Shiraz Viognier 2002 (review)

82 points

Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. 13.5%

I didn't like this. It has some intensity but this cool climate shiraz just lacks flavour and excitment. It's somewhat floral, perhaps the viogner has been overdone, or the shiraz just not ripe enough.

And yet this wine has had some stellar reviews elsewhere. Odd.

Note: this is not the Reserve version which is 3 times the price.

Domaine de Gerbaud Cotes du Luberon 1999

84 points

South of France. Made by Tardieu Laurent.

Quite dark. Gently fresh leather on the nose. Moderately concentrated palate, minerally with some spice. I'm not sure of the blend, I'd suspect grenache but it hasn't the sweet opulence of grenache. It's quite close knit.

I was worried that in my warm cellar a wine of this age and price would be fading - but not so. Should last a few more years.

Edwards & Chaffey section 353 shiraz 1999

88 points

McLaren Vale, South Australia.

A dark wine, looks very healthy for 6 years of age. It has thrown a crust (which for some reason has been broken up - lots of sediment).

Rather monotone nose, slightly vegetal (mercaptan ?). French oak apparently.

Rich sweet spicy energetic, similar weight to a Barossa shiraz but different - slightly tighter. The back lable talks of chocolatey sweetness, but this is not a chocolate milkshake style shiraz.

It's a hot somewhat manufactured wine (added acidity) but the flavour intensity is very good.

Plaiser de Merle Grand Plaiser 2001 (review)

87 points

Paarl, South Africa. 14.5%

A bordeaux blend but with some shiraz. A shiny wine with tiny hints of crimson still. Big but quite concentrated. Syrupy with glycerol and some sweetness. Best with food. Quite impressive rather than fine. Lacks really exciting fruit or savoury characters.

Recommended. One of South Africa's better wines.

Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2001 (review)

91+ points

St Julien, Bordeaux.

Clive Coates and Robert Parker agree that this wine is consistently of 1st growth quality. And like most of us I don't get to try 1st growths very often, to say the least. So this was very interesting.

Interestingly it smells like a top NZ cabernet (like Te Mata) ie great oak on distinctively varietal fruit.

Tastes sleek (glycerol) and incredibly concentrated. Somewhat like a top South African cabernet in ripeness and they too often have this sort of dry (pencil shavings) not sweet French oak. Surprisingly quite New World, but perhaps due to youth. It really is very concentrated - I know I've already said that, but it is a standout feature. Dense fruit lots of oak. Not for drinking now, other than as an academic exercise (vinicide).

Very interesting rather than a lot of fun. I'm reluctant to give higher points, I expected something more distinctive rather than so densely concentrated. Needs quite a few years of aging, eg at least 5.

Torbreck Steading 2000 (review)

89 points

This is a Grenache Mataro Shiraz from Barossa.

Every bottle I have opens with a lot of bottle stink- very earthy funky mushroomy smells. After a while this reduces but is still evident. The now more apparent nose is Grenache Mataro- sweet fruits, earthy, tarry, spicy. The colour is showing a bit of browning at the edges- maybe more due to my lack of cellaring than the wine itself, but more red than purple. The taste is a blend of sweet fruits (Grenache) and very earthy mushroomy character. You might pick this as a Rhone wine, rather than Barossa. The tannin is evident, but soft and the length is nice, but not overly long. Really a nice wine with rich food, not overpowering at all.

Marc Bredif grand annee Vouvray 1986 (review)

90 points

Loire Valley, France. 12.5%

It is amazing that this wine is available retail, at 19 years of age. And at about $35.

It's also amazing that it tastes so fresh, presumably a cold Loire cellar helps.

Light gold. Gorgeous complex aroma showing just hints of maturity, and sweetness too. That light sweetness is on the palate which is fresh but soft with waxy hints. Clean. Some greenness a tad hard, but this contributes to the enjoyable whole.

Not the most concentrated Vouvray I've tried. Not the most outstanding, though it will probably continue to gain in flavour with age.

Imported into Australia by Negociants Australia, Adelaide.

Villa Maria cellar selection Pinot Noir 2001

85 points

Marlborough, New Zealand. 14%

Dark, rich, plummy, soft acid. Quite a hefty Pinot Noir. Varietal but lacks complexity.

Seppelts Chalambar Shiraz 1999

85 points

For those who like a cooler climate Shiraz with a spicy nose and extracted tannins. The acid is well-balanced, but even after 6 years, the tannins are still pronounced. The nose is red berry and white pepper; the taste is more red fruits and a bit of blueberry. I am not sure if there were added tannins or just a lot of extract. Still a nice winter red for about $15.

Te Mata Awatea 1998 (review)

91 points

Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. 13.5%

This is a special wine, an outstanding NZ red. Which we have consumed many times - this is not a one-off tasting review. Sure it is a bit academic reviewing a wine that is unavailable to buy anymore but it is very interesting to see what NZ can do in great vintages.

At 7 years of age this is so like a high quality Bordeaux. Hard to pick blind ! Seemingly higher alcohol with less concentration. Perhaps like 1999 (in Bordeaux) ie ripe but a touch dilute.

Great physiological ripeness, silky smooth palate. And super deft oak. Te Mata really is first class. Increasingly they seem to be overlooked for more high powered (alcohol and extract) wines from new producers, but I think Te Mata really is NZ aristocracy. And in freakishly ripe vintages they produce wines like this, fine elegant but with flavours into the dark end of spectrum.

This is the sort of wine that everyone who lives in the "New World" hopes for. Top quality fine wine, but at a fraction of the price (in this case about $30). Unfortunately this is all too rare with wineries of only a few years old often trying for prices that are ridiculously high.

Dopf Riesling & Gewurtztraminer 2003 Alsace

83 points

These wines are the low end of the spectrum from Dopf. A nice change of style from the typical Australian versions at about $14-$15 at Dan Murphy. The nose is extremely lifted on the Gewurtz, less so on the Riesling. Both wines have nice thick mouthfeel and good length. I found them a bit phenolic, but still enjoyable, easily varietally recogniseable and good drinking with slightly spicy chicken/fish.

Claymore graceland Cabernet 2002 (review)

85 points

Clare Valley, South Australia. 15%

A warm chocolate style cabernet with nice toasty balancing oak. Astringent short finish is annoying. Very young and fresh, but I can't see it going anywhere except mellowing.

Good for this style. Interesting label.

Grosset Gaia 2001 (review)

87 points

Clare Valley, South Australia. 14%

Cab, Cab Franc, Merlot.

The great red hope of Clare cabernet ? Perhaps.

Skillfully made. Dark and shiney. Aromas not unlike a quality Bordeaux, nice oak, warm fruit. On the palate a bit stewed, sweet (though not overly) and strong, and with an astringent (added acid?) finish. It's a pretty enjoyable wine, a notch above many Australian cabernets in completeness and lack of overt mint etc. But at almost $50 it's no competitor to bordeaux.

Very good wine, not great. Worth trying.

Stelvin, screwcap - to be applauded.

Can Clare cabernet do it ?

Many years ago when I first came to Australia I soon formed the opinion that Margaret River and Hawkes Bay (New Zealand) were the top contenders to make great Bordeaux challengers. Other regions could make interesting wines but none had the flavours and balance right.

Except perhaps Clare, which can produce ripe cabernet yet with bright acids.

Can Clare do it ? I truly think it can, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of motivation from winemakers or critics. We'll see, eventually someone has to hit the jackpot.

Warrabilla reserve Shiraz 2002 (review)

82 points

Rutherglen, Victoria. 16% (oddly it does not mention the region on the label)

Occasionally the central Victorian district of Rutherglen makes outstanding wines. Huge enormous wines, but tight with firm acidity. Like supercharged and underpriced Hermitage. I think Hugh Johnson or Andre Simon once described them as food wine and a good cigar all in one.

So every Rutherglen red I try I always hope..... and this says on the back label "the 2002 vintage was the highlight of 23 years of winemaking" - reflecting the wonderous cool long vintage.

The wine is dull but super dark (purple black), throwing considerable crust. Aromas of berries but quite closed. It's a solid rustic wine, pretty manufactured (but added acidity is to be expected in this region). It suffers from the major sin of being boring. Sigh, pity.

Serafino Cabernet 2002 (review)

83 points

McLaren Vale, South Australia. 14%

Awarded several trophies in 2004 including Winstate's cabernet of the year. Not bad for an under $20 bottle. But then again Winestate magazine has a pretty odd palate particularly when it comes to cabernet.

Warm climate wine aged in French and American oak. This is an old style chocolately cabernet. Not overtly herbaceous or minty, nor sweet syrupy - which all sounds good. But this is a chunky dull wine, presumably it was fresher last year. Odd finish, hard from added acidity and also milky (perhaps the American oak). Bit of a freak really.

Not recommended unless you like cabernet with undefined solid fruit, and don't mind obvious winemaking. If the style doesn't offend then this is well made. But personally I feel that "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and McLaren Vale is not a cabernet region.

Xanadu Reserve Cabernet/Merlot/Cab Franc 1999 (review)

82 points

Margaret River, Western Australia. 15%

Identifiable as Margaret River on the nose, but turns out to be a syrupy alcoholic cabernet.

Leconfield Old Vines Riesling 2002 (review)

88 points

Coonawarra, South Australia. 12%

Coonwarra can produce very good Riesling. Less upfront that Clare or Eden Valley Rieslings it generally needs a few years in bottle before it starts to shine. But this wine was quite a hit early winning a trophy at the 2002 Adelaide Show.

Today it is still a green gold colour. It's a flavoursome Riesling with some green vegetal tones - but pleasant ones. Quite vinous, able to handle food.

The low alcohol is a pleasant feature. Stelvin/screwcap.

Tresmoulis 2000 Corbieres

90 points

Corbieres is a region in the southwest of France, not far from Spain. This wine is drinking excellently now. I wish I had a few more bottles . The nose is tight with a bit of blueberries and spice. It is definitely not Australian. The palate is also tight, not big but very long with more spice than any wine I can remember in a long time. After swishing in the mnouth there is definitely a peppery spice and a bit of cinnamom. The tannins are strident, but no real oak flavour, even though it says on the label it was aged in aok barrels. The blend in Carignan, Grenache, Mouvedre - the three windmills. I think some of the Barossa winemakers are trying to make wines like this but failing.

Cape Mentelle Cabernet 2001 (review)

89 points

Margaret River, Western Australia. 15%

Personally a much awaited release from a top producer in a great vintage for WA.

Dark, shiney, though surprisingly dropping a fine crust (suggesting a degree of added acidity).

Super thick opulent aromas of warm fruit and plenty of rich new oak. Oak dominates the nose.

This is a heroic opulent cabernet, good but not fine, with lashing of new French oak. Hefty alcohol and weighty fruit - thankfully no overt minty eucalypt characters that affect so many Australian cabernets. It isn't overty sweet either, and not jammy in spite of its weight, but is far from being bordeaux like savoury. A masculine Australian cabernet, but obviously, too obviously, from a hot vineyard with extractive winemaking.

Terroir-wise this is more like a (quality) Barossa, Napa or Cape cabernet than Margaret River. It has fabulous concentration, but even at this young age lacks freshness, also lacks elegance (which it will never gain), it also lacks sufficient complexity for a wine of this price and heritage - though it should gain something with age. With food it palls.

Interesting. But underwhelming (which seems odd to say about such a huge wine). At $50 there are many ripe concentrated yet elegant alternatives. Tasted alongside Leeuwin Estate Prelude 2001 (half the price and previously reviewed as good, but not up the usual standard) it was obviously more intense, built to age much longer, and also hotter - and less food friendly.

Impressive wine, but not one I recommend (unless you really like this sort of thing); and I can't give it more than 89 points though no doubt there are plenty of critics (Parker included) who will go higer. Indeed here is some of the flowery criticism that a web search turned up (yes they are all Australian - as if it isn't obvious):

This is a real cabernet. It’s not opulent, it’s not over-ripe, it’s not shiraz, and nor was it meant to be. It’s fine and gravelly and strong in its aroma, there is nothing fragile here, and then the palate impales the initial impression and does not let it go anywhere: currants, yes, but moreso ash and cedar and gravel and bitterness, with dry dark chocolate appearing but only as stumps to the house of its stylish, long flavoured, anti-sweet, rakingly tannic body. Drink: 2015-2025. 96 points. Campbell Mattinson, Winefront Monthly

Cape Mentelle’s return to prominence with cabernet sauvignon continues with this alluringly complex and tightly crafted long-term wine. Its dusty, cigarboxy bouquet of cassis and dark plums, dark olives and cedar/vanilla oak reveals meaty undertones and aromatic floral qualities. Smooth and silky, it’s firm and fine-grained; a structured wine whose slightly closed and brooding core of blackberries, cassis and plums is tightly interwoven with tannin and oak. (Margaret River, $75 retail, approx., 18.8/95, drink 2013-2021+ Jeremy Oliver, OnWine

The finest Mentelle cabernet sauvignon since the great '95. Herbal blonde tobacco smells on the nose, with deep, deep cassis building in the glass. Even more exciting in the mouth; slippery, tongue-coating loganberry and other forest berry fruits, plus piercing juicy cassis. The tannin and oak is in complete harmony with everything else. - Tim White, Australian Financial Review

Leoville Barton 2001 (review)

92+ points

St Julien, Bordeaux.

In Australia typically just under A$100, in UK/USA cheaper.

Anthony Barton has a reputation for making fine traditional claret, at near the top of the scale ('super second') yet priced sensibly - none of this showy superstar stuff.

I've tried several recent vintages, but never under ideal conditions, the wines always seemed very fine which left me wondering what a Leoville Barton would be like given serious attention. Well here is my review:

Staggeringly rich with marzipan oak notes. This is a traditionally flavoured and structured Bordeaux (but not dull or old fashioned), the oak fruit balance is great. Tannins are strong, but again well balanced.

Austere yet rich, the hallmarks of great wine.

The last thing this wine would be called is fruity, already at this young age the flavours are complex; undried black currents are the closest fruit.

Great wine. Too young - try from 2008 onwards.

Personally I'd like much of the fine wine buying world to ignore this chateau so I can afford to buy more.

Wolf Blass Gold Label Barossa Shiraz 2002 (review)

83 points

Barossa Valley, South Australia.

Pristine big company wine making can't make up for the blend of fruit which is only good-ish. Nice oak on the nose, though very showy manufactured. Fresh clean (stelvin screwcap) and boring.

Nederberg 2001 Private Bin Malbec (review)

87 points

Price unknown, but probably around $15-$20AUD.

This wine is one of a range made for the Nederberg wine auction, so it is not widely available. We had an informal tasting of Malbecs while I was in the US (all from Argentina and a few from Chile) and this one would be one of the better ones. It has a spicy nose and reasonable length with definite mint and earthy flavours. Many of the commerical malbecs we tasted in the US were very short and not complex.

This wine, while not a Bordeaux certainly seems to be in that style and class for its price range. There is evidence of oak, but the fruit handles it well. Like many South Africa wines, it has less overripe characters and more earthy spicy characters, like European wines.

Shild Estate 'Ben Shild Reserve' Shiraz 2003 (review)

86 points

Barossa Valley, South Australia. 15%

Bottled in 2005 after 15 months in new French, American and Hungarian oak.

The most noticeable character of this wine, after its dark colour, is the coconut oak. Not super sweet oak, but distinctly coconut.

It's a huge concentrated and luscious wine, a hedonistic fruit bomb (in Parker parlance) with the oak influence giving it a palate smoothness that balances its youthful tannins. In spite of its weight and youth it is drinkable now. The first glass is very impressive.

But a glass or two later (with food) and the sheer forcefulness and added acidity pall. It's a wine for wine tasting and wine critics. Lacks style, elegance, too much extract, too much manufacturing.

Not for long aging, in spite of its substance. And bottled with a horrible composite cork so expect higher than usual rates of corkage.

I'm beginning to think there really is little reason to buy 2003 wines from South Australia, not when the superb (long and cool) 2002 vintage is still available.

$30 - not as good value as their non-reserve shiraz

Two Hands Angel's Share Shiraz 2004 Barossa

75 points

Highly overpriced, over extracted Shiraz from a well-known producer. I would have thought perhaps this wine had been oxidised, since it seemed to be all tannin and no fruit, but it was bottled with a screwcap. I bought some $6 Shiraz cleanskins from McLaren, which tasted pretty much the same. A real disappointment to all 4 of us at the table.

Yangarra 2002 McLaren Vale Grenache

88 points

An earthy style Grenache with great length. Low on up front fruit, but high on texture. A good wine with rich food. Not cheap- about $30. This is made by the Australian arm of Kendall-Jackson form the US.

Massena 2004 Grenache Shiraz Mataro Cinsault Barossa Valley

90 points on my tired palate.

This wine was recommended to me at the Wine Underground the other night and it literally blew all our palates away. It has an amazing intensity in the mouth, but a rather normal Grenache Shizar nose- a bit spicy and earthy. I thought it would probably be too strong for the food, but it really wasn't. There are tannins here, but mainly fine grape tannins, with almost no trace of oak. It probably was aged in old oak. The wine is made by Dan Standish from Torbreck and one of the winemakers from Two Hands in the Barossa. Worth trying, but not cheap, nearly $30.

Winter Creek Barossa Shiraz 2003 (review)

88 points

Barossa Valley, South Australia. around $25

Very well made, well balanced wine. Good oak fruit acid tannin balance - all components noticeable at present but they sit very well together. Hugely ripe, reflecting the very hot vintage. It's quite honestly like a dry Vintage Port, not 'porty' in the sense of sweet or jammy. Like a good Portugeuse VP but without the sweetness, nor (all of) the alcohol.

I think it is pretty impressive winemaking. But I personally don't consider this anywhere near as enjoyable or complex as the 2002 and I'm not really looking to drink dry port.

Moss Wood Cabernet 2001 (review)

90 points

Margaret River, Western Australia. 14.5%

One of Australia's very best cabernets. In a great vintage for WA. Bottled with screwcap (stelvin).

This is a sumptuous sexy polished smooth cabernet. Bold but not dull or dumb. It's a sleek big fruited wine. Warm rich palate but with a substantial Australian mintyness.

Extremely refined wine making, yet ultimately a wine reflects its terrior and this doesn't have that austerity with richness that great bordeaux has - indeed it just doesn't seem to have the same physiological ripeness. It reminds me of the statement that the French make wine while New World winemakers bottle fruit.

Tasted against the similarly priced ($70) Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2001 and after one gulp everyone wanted to drink the GPL rather than the Moss Wood.

To drink alone the Moss Wood has the edge (soft and sexy), but with food it isn't a contest. Indeed with food the Moss Wood is overpowering. Even with a tomato and blue cheese pasta it competed rather than complemented. And it is one dimensional compared with the GPL.

There are far cheaper wines, like Grant Burge 2001 Coonawarra (a Melbourne St Wine Cellars cleanskin - and extraordinary value) that provide some of this sumptuousness and mintyness, but at a one tenth of the price.

The Moss Wood has its place, and it is really excellent in its way, but it has a way to go before it becomes really serious fine wine.

Primo Estate Il Briccone Shiraz Sangiovese 2002 (review)

79 points

South Australia. 14%

The 2001 was previously well reviewed on this site. This is Shiraz Sangiovese blend (with a bit of Barbera, Nebbiolo and Cabernet) that sees no new oak, there seems to be a tiny bit of oak influence but no oak flavour.

There is plenty of sweet fruit, indeed plenty of sweetness. Eventually this becomes very cloying. Too commercial.

Chateau Sociando-Mallet 2001 (review)

89 points

Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France.

For at least 20 years this has been a rising star in Bordeaux. Clive Coates now classes it as an "'Exceptional Growth' - often as fine as the 'Outstanding Growths' (below 'First Growths') if not as prestigious or expensive".

This is a suave, sexy wine. Aromas of sweet French oak, which is quite prominent on the palate. Smells almost New World, but tastes much less sweet. Firm but without great mid palate fruit intensity. Has class but I'd prefer a bit more power or complexity.

Best left for another 3-5 years of age. Expect a wine of sophistication rather than power. Sociando-Mallet used to be more robust, less approachable when young. See the review of the 1986.

Grant Burge Nebuchadnezzar Shiraz Cabernet 2003 (review)

84 points.

Barossa Valley, South Australia. 13.5% $35

Soft old fashioned red, with vanilla leather aromas. Super soft, rich but somewhat dilute palate.

Probably reflects what could be achieved with the vintage. Not unattractive, but not worth cellaring, and over priced - very unusual for Grant Burge who has been on a roll recently.

Not recommended (esp at this price), at least not in this 2003 vintage.

Mr Riggs Shiraz Viognier 2004 (review)

84+ points

Mclaren Vale, South Australia. 15%

This has only been in bottle a few months. And stelvin screwcap at that.

Almost undrinkable, huge fruit driven style. TOO YOUNG. Pungent, almost yucky cosmetic fruit.

Duas Quintas 2001 (review)

81 points

Douro, Portugal. 13%.

Nice fresh vinous wine. Very true to its region, like a dilute port. The fruit sweetness becomes cloying.

Chandon Z*D 2000 (review)

79 points

Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. 12.5%

This is a zero dosage wine. Supposed to be a dry aperitif style.

But it is a big parsnipy, fruit salad sparkling. Thank goodness it had no dosage !

Makes one depressed about the ability of Australia to produce really fine sparkling wine. Champagne has nothing to fear.

The World of Wines in One Night

An idea we had for the first Wine Marketing Conference- bring a bottle of your favourite wine to share- was more than doubled at the recent Sonoma Conference. About 100 wine people, each with a bottle of wine from at least 12 countries. I tasted so many, it is hard to recall individual brands and wines. A few I remember: the Torbreck Juveniles 2002 (Grenache Mataro Shiraz with no oak treatment) surpised many people with its finesse and European style. A couple of pinots were will-noted- Sanford Pinot fromk Santa Barbara (near the Sideways area) and Mieze from Russian River in Sonoma showcased excellent American style Pinots. These were earthy and animal (Francois d'Hauteville's comment) wines with long lasting flavours, a bit more intense than Burgundy in the fruit area and little less in complexity. Very different from some of the more extracted or heavily fruit New Zealand and Australian styles. A Corbiere from the Southwest of France was also a bit funky, but stronger in fruit flavour and almost chewy. The Brown Brothers Patricia late harvest Riesling that Tony brought received tremendous admiration for its intensity, acidity, and length. I tasted a similar late harvest style from the Venice area, but cannot remember the grape or the producer. It was less sweet than the Australian, but with great length and intensity. A 1994 Mouvedre from the Sonoma area was more interesting than great. It had aged well in terms of intensity and smoothness, but like most Mouvedres was lacking in the front palate. Sonoma itself is very interesting in the number of climates available, from chilly coastal areas (day time temperatures around 20-22, and nights at 10C) to northern areas far from the ocean (with day temperatures near 40, but again nights near 12C) and everything in between depending on distance from the ocean, elevation (controls whether fog above or below the vineyard), and soils (mostly deep volcanic, but also some shallow rocky areas).

Valderiz 2001 (review)

89 points

Ribera Del Duero, Spain. 14%

Lovely brambly tempranillo, dark and soft, with smoky vanilla oak. A smooth rich wine reflecting a very good vintage in Spain. Pricey and hard to find in Australia.

What is happening to wine alcohol levels ?

Australia seems to be leading the way, but it is happening elsewhere too, alcohol levels are rising. New reds hitting Australian shelves include wines at 16% !

What is happening ? Grapes being left longer on the vine ? Why are winemakers chasing such high alcohols. Is it because of better viticulture and winemaking that they can afford to seek better physiological ripeness without losing acidity ?

Even wine that have been made to recipes for decades are showing higher alcohols. For instance I saw a Penfolds Bin 707 cabernet from 1985 yesterday and the labels said only 11.5% - you'd never see a current vintage near this level. Mind you early 80s was a period where warm climate winemakers were going to the other extreme. I'd just arrived in Australia from New Zealand and was amazed that Australian winemakers were deliberately picking their grapes (too) early in order to retain acids and what they saw as cool climate finesse. Coming from a cool climate I was used to winemakers striving for ripeness.

Alcohol levels used to be a good indicator of quality. Too low and that indicated a poor vintage, under-ripe grapes, or diluted. For example, most cask wine features quite low alcohol due to irrigated (ie diluted) fruit. I'm not sure if cask wine has also dramatically increased in alcohol recently.

This trend to high alcohols seems to cut across cool climate areas like New Zealand and hot like McLaren Vale in 2003.

Is it simply because the market prefers high alcohol reds ? Are winemakers responding to wine writers and buyers ?

Sterling Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet 1974 (review)

What a treat! Once in a while an unexpected wine is opened that says something about a region and a style. On this particular night, a friend of a friend invited me over near Boston for dinner and good wines. We had some good wines, including a Sancerre, a Burgundy (good but not classic), a Bordeaux (more on that later) and this wine.

A Bordeaux lover would realise upon tasting this, the incredible potential of Napa cab. It was still reddish-purple coloured with hints of brick, a bit of fruit, but mainly secondary characters on the nose and wonderful length on the palate. The classic developed tobacco and a bit of leather, but still some currant like fruits. This was made by a wine maker who was there only a few years.

The wine could live another 5 years at least.

It was not that expensive when it was released compared to other better known Napa producers.

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2002 (review)

82 points

South Australia. 14%

This is (was) an old favourite, I consider it "little Grange" (ahead of Bin 389 which uses old grange barrels) because like Grange it is shiraz, and principally a Barossa shiraz. Typically very good value, though the wine making seems increasingly old fashioned.

I was told 2002 was the best Bin 28 in years, which is perfectly understandable given the quality of the vintage.

But the wine was a disappointment. Nice structure colour, perfect condition. But boring old-fashioned winemaking with obvious added acidity, ripe but straightforward fruit. It's a pretty good wine, but there are so many better on the market.

If this is you sort of thing give it another 3-4 years.

Mr Riggs Shiraz 2003 (review)

91+ points

McLaren Vale, South Australia. 15%

Wow. Super intense smoky oak (French mainly) aromas herald an absolute giant of a wine. From the super hot 2003 vintage this is masterly wine making in a high alcohol style. I feared overt added acidity, but I can't taste it. Drinkable - just... match with hearty food.

At less than one tenth the price of Penfold's Grange this is a flagship for this new style of wines picked for optimum flavour ripeness - which in Australia can mean very big wines indeed.

In spite of the rave above I have very little idea how this wine will age. Personally I don't trust the 2003 vintage but will be looking out for the 2004 version of this wine - I'm intruiged to see how such a wine will age.

Serafino Shiraz 2002 (review)

88+ points

McLaren Vale, South Australia. 14%

A modestly priced super rich intense and heavily oaked shiraz. Pretty much undrinkable at the moment (decant and give it a decent breathing), huge, but tight, and the oak is astringent. Pretty impressive though. Has plenty of potential.

Well priced at around $18.

Plaiser de Merle Shiraz 2001 (review)

82 points.

Paarl, South Africa.

Seems to produce wines of greater elegance and freshness than most South African producers. This is a berry like mid weight shiraz with dusty sweet oak. After a few glasses the astingency becomes a bit much. Fairly commercial by Australian standards.

Mount Ida Heathcote Shiraz 2001

87 points

Heathcote, Victoria, Australia 14%

Heathcote is one of Australia's greatest shiraz regions. Small in production compared with great regions like Barossa and McLaren Vale, but excitingly different. It tends to produce huge wines but with tighter, finer, more tannic structure than these hot climate regions - I think part of the difference is colder night (in the same way that Clare riesling stands out), but also the soil matters.

This wine is a little more traditional than some. Slightly more mellow, slightly more like Great Western (another great Victorian region), more mild and straightforward. Probably has a long life ahead of it, but lacks character at the moment. Nice balance though.

Australian reds to buy now, but cellar if you want

On Friday Carl asked "what is a good Australian red to buy, one that will keep and improve over the next say 5-10 years ?"

Here are two recommendations:

Both are very substantial wines (15% alcohol), both shiraz, and $17 each (for cellarcard holders) at Melbourne St Wine Cellars.

Brown's of Padthaway Ernest Shiraz 2002

Tyrrell's Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2003

PS if you know of any other wines of similar price/quality ratios let us know.

Tyrrell's Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2003 (review)

90 points

Heathcote, Central Victoria, Australia. 15.2%

Dark red, with good gylcerol legs. Deep concentrated aromas, warm but not baked. Black pepper and rich berry fruit. This is a hefty wine yet quite tightly structured, certainly not blowsy nor jammy. Nor thankfully reeking of added acidity.

In spite of the very hot vintage, and the high alcohol, this wine is still fresh and well suited to food.

Extremely good value.

Given the hot vintage I have some doubts about how it will develop with age. Yet based on how it appears now I'd predict a long future of good drinking.

The low price is a bonus, as is the screwcap enclosure. Buy now before it disappears.

Yatir 2002 Ma'Or Cabernet Sauvignon (review)

90 points

This wine comes from a series of very small vineyards in the southern Judean Hills, south of Beersheba in what was formerly desert. However, the vineyards are planted at elevations of over 700 meters and subject to cooling winds in the afternoons.

The wine is made by an Adelaide trained Israeli in a state of the art small facility jointly owned by several kibbutim (cooperative farms( in the area. They grow cherries and other stone fruit there as well.

The wine is dark and tends to the cherry and plum spectrum. The oak is well handled French oak that matches the strength of the fruit. There is some depth of provencal herbs on the nose and palate.

Chateau Golan 2001 Eliad

87 points

A bit clumsy blend of good quality Cabernet (90%) plus some Merlot and Syrah. Good fruit and length, but too tannic and a bit extracted. The flavours do blend wiell with the Cabernet tobacco and green character dominant. Some red fruits from the other grapes on the nose, but not on the palate.

Chateau Golan 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon

88 points

A nicely balanced cool climate cab with a tinge of green capsicum, but mainly red fruits and some tobacco on the nose. Very good length and natural acidity. Perhaps a bit too much new oak, but the fruit will carry it in a few years.

Chateau Golan 2002 Syrah review

91 points

This is a very Australian style Syrah from a lower elevation vineyard (about 400 meters) in the Golan Heights area of Israel. The wine is in the riper vein of Shiraz with an alcohol of about 14.5%, but is not over ripe- no cooked fruit at all. It is definitely in the plum and chocolate range of Syrah, rather than the black pepper vein.

Good acidity and length. This is a small (10,000 case) winery growing all its own grapes with an Israeli winemaker trained in Oregon.

Pretty pricey at about $40 US.

Yarden 2003 Gewurtztraminer Heightswine

91 points

This play on words wine is made from ripe cool climate Gewurtz, which is frozen to -12C and then pressed. The wine is viscous and has strong lychee and floral notes. Good natural acidity and balance with no signs of phenolics at all. very clean and crisp. These grapes are grown at high elevation and are some of the best Gewurtztraminer I have tasted ourside of France or Germany.

Yarden 2002 Syrah

88 points

A stylish European type Syrah, with red frutis, like raspberries and light pepper. A bit too much new oak for my taste, but undoubtedly will age well. Naturally high acidity and grape tannins are apparent. This is only the second vintage. THe winemaking team is led by a Davis-trained American, now an Israeli citizen and then wines have that California-imitating France style- good extraction and balance, but too much oak.

Yarden 2001 Cabernet Suavignon

89 points

Golan Heights Winery is considered to be the first high quality winery in modern Israel, ca 1983. THe now crush about 5,000 tons of grapes from 14 vineyards located in what was previously Syrian territory in the Golan area of northern Israel. The vineyards are owned by local cooperative (kibbutz) farms, but managed by Golan Heights; the range from 400 meters to over 1000 meters in elevation (with snow in winter). The top wines like this one come from deep volcanidc soils, which are more like porous gravel than soil. THe wine is very intense with cool capsicum and red currant type fruits. The oak is well handled, not too prominant. Their better vintages form the mid to late 80s are still drinking well. Price is about $30 US

Chateau La Cardonne 2001 (review)

87 points

Medoc, Bordeaux. Cru Bourgeois. 13%

A very nice claret. Medium concentration. Enjoyable now. Has a warmth about it that is missing in some 2001 Bordeaux, and is also less tannic. A very well made approachable claret, traditional yet with modern clean winemaking.

A bargain (at least in the Geneva supermarket where I bought it).

Bock Villanyi 'Bock Cuvee' barrique 1999

85 points

Villanyi, Hungary. 13%

A top wine of Hungary. From the South. Expensive by Hungarian standards.

The back label is interesting reading:

"Leader wine of the Cellar. It head been mellowed in barrique barrels for 18 months. Consists of Cab. Sauvignon (65%), Cab. Franc (30%) es Merlot (5%). Heady flavour and high colour intensity are peculiar to this wine. It has a pleasant tobacco scent. Chocolate and vanilla are smack of its flavour. It is a velvety, bulky wine. Recommended to game."

Well it is strongly flavoured, savoury, tobacco. No chocolate or vanilla - perhaps in its youth. Definitely not a shiny sweet New World style. Somewhat hard despite its age.

Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 'Les Roncieres' 2002 (review)

93 points

Concentrated, but without heroic alcohol. This is very stylish rich Burgundy. Very young, and rather hard to describe - the flavours are complex and changing (with air, food etc). It isn't a simple fruit and oak wine, in spite of its age this is vinous and complete - with a long life ahead of it.

Nothing is overdone about this wine. Very fine.

Chateau Pitray 2001 (review)

84 points

Cotes de Castillon, Bordeaux, France. 13%

A straightforward claret. Mid weight, savoury lead pencil flavours though there seems little in the way of new oak. Though this is the "primier vin" which Coates says is aged in one third new oak.

A tad too green. A doubt this was a top vintage for this producer.

Parker generally praises this Chateau. It's seen as one the the very best of Cotes de Castillion - an increasingly important area for budget Bordeaux.

Domaine de la Janesse VDP Terre de Bussiere 2003 (review)

86+ points (Parker rated it something like 89-91)

Vin de Pays de la Principauté d'Orange. France. 14.5%

I came across this wine without knowing anything about it. I bought it for a friend who likes sunshine in his wines, I expected this to fil the bill, due to the very hot 2003 vintage in the South of France. And the 14.5% on the label.

Interesting blend of 60% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Syrah, and 10% Greanche.

Extraordinarily ripe, like dry port - seriously. Yet not unbalanced. Some acid, and definite firm tannin. This might live for many many years. Worth the punt. 7 GBP in London (from Majestic wine warehouse).

Chateau Croix de Gay 2001 (review)

90+ points

Pomerol, Bordeaux, France.

Young powerful, still a bit raw, but enjoyable nevertheless. While it does taste like a Pomerol it certainly isn't overtly plummy fruitcakey. The structure is full but tight. It is a very good example of the vintage, with considerable potential for age.

Lovely hessian character on the front palate, warm but not sweet oak. Great finish, tannin and length of flavour.

Quite an exciting modern Bordeaux without being flamboyant.

Mills Reef Elspeth 2000 (review)

85 points.

Giblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.

A strongly flavoured dark wine. Sort of bordeaux blend, but with Syrah too. Exotic nose, of ripe fruit, some almost floral notes, and warm good quality oak. Less enjoyable to drink though. They have striven for ripeness and flavour, to the point of having to add acidity. The wine is a bit hard, clumsy and contrived.

Flavoursome, yet even with food it isn't a delight.

I think many Kiwi winemakers are still struggling to find balance and finesse with the very ripe grapes that are now coming out of good NZ wine sites. Wine judges too are being easily seduced by young raw but ultra concentrated wines, they imagine potential that doesn't turn out.

Leeuwin Estate Siblings Shiraz 2001 (review)

83 points

Margaret River, Western Australia.

This is a nice Rhone style shiraz. Without much oak, probably old French. It's a style of wine that is quite new to Australia, and is made here with confidence. A good wine without great pretentions. Designed for quality everyday drinking. Perhaps a little over priced (though low for Leeuwin and Margaret River) at around A$20.

RBJ Theologicum 2001 (review)

87 points

This is a rare wine, though I saw it at East End Cellars. The RBJ stands for Ringland (Chris of Three Rivers and Rockford), Bruce (not sure, but it used to be Ralph Binder, but now is Bruce), and Johnstone (Russell, head of viticulture for Orlando). This wine is kind of their homebrew, in a very simple package with little information except that it is a Mouvedre Grenache blend from the Barossa Valley.

The colour is rather light, as in not opaque, though the hue is on the red brick side. Looking at it and smelling, you could almost mistake it for a typical Aussie Pinot, with a tight vinous nose- no outstanding fruit or tarry characters. But when you taste it- aqgain like a good Pinot- the flavour explodes into your mouth totally belying the light colour. There's lots of tannin, kind of drying Grenache type tannin and then the tarry fruit of Mouvedre. There is a long linger taste of bith tannin and rich red fruit after swallowing.

The wine is not that expensive for the intensity- about $25, less if you buy it direct. I think it is a bit closed and young and will wait a while before opening the other bottles.