Offcuts

Attended a tasting with work colleagues on Friday afternoon. Here are some brief notes on the more interesting wines.

Mitchell Watervale Riesling 2007
Austere, reasonably intense aromas of citrus and passionfruit. Quite high toned/powdery. Good impact on the palate, with astringent lemon rind most prominent. Firm, fine acidity drives intensity well through the after palate. Long finish. A very dry, austere wine with quite generous fruit and good presence. A little forceful right now.

Radford Dale Riesling 2007
Eden Valley goodness. Mineral and floral talc on the nose, with delicate lime juice. Lovely flinty palate, cut apple and lime flavours. Well integrated acid is fine yet firm. It’s shapely but persuasively so. Falls over a bit on the after palate, subtle dry finish. Lovely wine.

Taylors St Andrews Riesling 2001
Showing some age but in a somewhat non-typical fashion. Not your typical toast and honey, this comes across as more biscuit-like, youthful and aged elements integrating remarkably well for a wine that, to my taste, is only just starting to age. On the palate, youthful acidity, flint, a bit of residual lime flavour. Nice interplay between all the elements, brilliant length, with a slightly herbal, aniseed-like note on the finish.

Voyager Estate Chardonnay 2004
Lovely nose of vanilla, cashew, honeydew melon and sharper, citrus notes. It would be entirely comforting if it weren’t so smart. On the palate, more crisp honeydew melon, nice firm acidity, clove-like spice and a mouthfeel that manages “round” without any love handles. Good length. Nice wine, if perhaps a little simple at this stage. I would suggest leaving this one for a while longer.

Foxeys Hangout Chardonnay 2003
Quirky wine from the Mornington Peninsula. Beautiful honey roasted nuts on the nose, sort of nougat-like. Good complexity with aniseed and doughy note too. On the palate, more honey nuts, lees-derived characters, all with good intensity. Generous mouthfeel without excess creaminess, spreading well through the mouth. Went fabulously with fresh goat’s cheese.

Piper’s Brook Chardonnay 2002
Quite youthful, with cut apple and sweet mown hay on the nose. In the mouth, a hint of honey and baked things, intensely clean fruit, some butterscotch. An odd dried fruit character on the after palate. Good persistence but not great complexity.

Turkey Flat Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Big, blousy nose, all dark cherry liqueur. Quite over the top and not really recognisable as Cabernet. Intense, genersous palate of dark cherries and perhaps some chocolate, with pleasant pippy acidity. Soft, fine and abundant tannins. Odd wine, or perhaps odd bottle?

Bremerton Old Adam Shiraz 2001
Langhorne Creek Shiraz in fine form. Complex, vanilla/blackberry nose, all very smooth and integrated and warm blanket-like. Surprisingly restrained palate, in fact quite elegant with a balanced structure and clean fruit. Some savoury complexities but really this wine is about tasty oak supporting a lot of delicious dark fruit. Fabulous clean lift through the after palate, delicate finish. Very drinkable.

Fairbank Sutton Grange Syrah 2003
Victorian Shiraz/Syrah. Intense umami on the nose, almost like smelling a mug of Continental “Hearty Beef” cup-a-soup, but of course in a highly refined wine wankerish manner. Very distinctive, but tending towards a single dimension. In the mouth, firm tannins, more beef broth. Very savoury and equally astringent, lacking perhaps a little drive through the after palate. Worth tasting.

Trevor Jones A Over T Liqueur Shiraz 1982
Very, very pleasurable, and super with Mauri Gorgonzola.

5 thoughts on “Offcuts

    • Hmmm, not sure. I didn’t have any “I’ve just died and gone to Heaven” moments, but there were definitely some good wines in there. The Taylors Riesling was clearly a good wine and I do like aged Riesling. I note your positive review of the 2005 and will seek out a bottle of that vintage to try. I also enjoyed the Foxeys Hangout Chardonnay for its lovely honeyed nuttiness. The Old Adam won on pure drinkability, though.

  1. Hello. The Taylors St Andrews 2002 is even better if you can find it Julian, but its still young too.
    Interesting on the Old Adam. When in the mood this quality sort of wine from Langhorne creek fruit is so right up my alley. Purely drinkable as you mention, but the “tasty oak supporting a lot of delicious dark fruit” is really, to me, what this wine is all about. Have a 2005 waiting to be opened in 5 years time for my 40th. Sheer indulgence and probably the wine that I will be the most sure of come the time (although a 2004 Tappanapa Cabernet Shiraz and Heggies Reserve 2001 Riesling follow closely behind).
    Now more about umami. I am aware of the term as one of the basic food tastes but it seems a hot topic of debate. If it is present in seaweed, tomatoes and reggiano and has a “meaty” character to it how can I take this information and make it useful? The foods are too disparate for me to understand the term unless it is further explained. I really am keen to know more…
    Cheers Jeremy

    • Hey Jeremy,

      Nice to hear from you. Your 40th birthday will be quite the event judging by the wines you have planned. I would save the Old Adam for that moment in the evening when the company, wine and food all click, and you want to open something that just tastes so comfortable and *right*. 🙂

      I’ve seen umami defined as the taste of “deliciousness,” which sounds nice but is profoundly unhelpful. I associate it with a taste of beef broth, tomato soup, etc. The distinctive yet elusive dimension to a flavour that makes it taste delicious and somewhat addictive. I’d recommend the writings of Max Lake on taste if you’d like to explore umami (amongst other things) in a context of gourmet pleasure (rather than scientific desiccation).

  2. Hi Julian. Perfect advice on the Old Adam 🙂 One of the big things I find with wine is it helps me deal with getting older! There are downsides of course but each passing year brings me closer to some cellar delight that I have been waiting for.
    Will get some of Max Lake’s work to delve into umami and no doubt other things. Thanks again and kind regards jeremy.

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