For this tasting Cam and myself put together four flights of various themes. We asked guests to number the wines according to preference and any further notes if they wished (most just gave a favourite rather than the ranking). We also asked them for a wine of the day and participants generally obliged here. Numbers for this tasting blew out from a desired 12 to cool 17, but in the end it was very workable. In italics are my pre-tasting notes, followed by some comments after each flight and lastly some general comments.
Flight One: Gembrook Hill Pinot Noir. A vertical ($55)
One of the Yarras more established & consistent family run vineyards. 5.5 h of vines (2.2h of Pinot Noir) planted in 1983 in the Upper Yarra. Sensible pricing policy has seen only modest increases over the last decade or so despite the high quality of the wines. From 2012 – 2018 all wines received 95 or more from HH, with the exception of 16, which is not yet rated. This is one of Australia’s finest examples of Pinot Noir from a producer that quietly goes about their business.
Left. Gembrook Hill Pinot Noir 2015. Diam. 13.5% alc. CT 92.1/100, HH 97/100 JH 94/100. One of the Yarra Valleys better vintages of the last decade.
Middle. Gembrook Hill Pinot Noir 2016. Diam. CT 90/100 HH NR JH 95/100. Warm & early vintage but relatively trouble free.
Right .Gembrook Hill Pinot Noir 2017. Diam. CT NR HH 95/100 JH 95/100. Late but high quality vintage. ‘Best Yarra vintage since 1992’ – JH.
Post Tasting Notes
Most evident from this was the consistency of these wines & there was only a slither of difference between the three in terms of style and quality. That said – and this is complete nit-picking – I found the 2016 showed its vintage & had a fraction less finesse/class: instead it’s appeal was it was a bit more generous and opulent but still far from a fruit forward style. My personal preference by the narrowest of margins over the 17 was the 2015 – it was superfine. I have no idea what these wines will do over time but my (speculative) guess is that they might peak in perhaps three years time & live happily for another five. So perhaps this flight would have also been interesting with a larger gap between the vintages to see how these wines evolve over a longer period. Next time perhaps. Nevertheless I love this style of Victorian Pinot Noir and it was reassuring to see others enjoy these wines & revel in Gembrook Hills consistency. These are lovely wines & they all drank well on the day with age seemingly not a factor. Six people voted the 15 wine of the flight, five people the 16 & four votes the 17. The 15 & 17 both received one vote for wine of the day.
Flight Two: Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. A vertical ($40)
A large, family run vineyard in South Australias Coonawarra region that focuses almost exclusively on the Cabernet grape. Seventeen consecutive vintages awarded Hallidays highest possible five star ranking, including ‘Winery of the Year’ in 2008. 74 hectares of vines in Southern Coonawarra propitiously situated on the prized ‘Terra Rossa’ soil. The estate cabernet is the second tier of Balnaves cabernet wines underneath the Tally (Langtons classification Outstanding) & is currently priced at $40. Congruent with popular opinion, I consider the Coonawarra Cabernet based wines to now be behind Margaret River in overall quality however they are generally more sensibly priced, can be very good value and the better examples can age graciously for a good two decades. I hope these wines (given the impeccable provenance) will give people an opportunity to gauge at what approximate age they enjoy a good Australian cabernet sauvignon.
L. Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. Cork. 14.6% Alc. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. CT 90.3/100 HH 83/100. Cooler, more ‘classic’ vintage in Coonawarra which was rated 7/10 from JH due to the lateness of the season.
M. Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. Cork. 15% alc. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. CT 88.7/100, HH 91/100. Warm, trouble free vintage with lower yields than average due to small berry sizes.
R. Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2014. Screwcap. 14.5% alc. 97.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5 % Petit Verdot. CT 88/100, HH 93/100. Cool, low yielding yet high quality vintage with a very long growing season.
Post tasting Notes
This was quite an interesting flight as the wines differed quite a bit from each other compared to the ultra consistent Gembrooks. I’ve long had a soft spot for Balnaves: alongside Woodlands, Picardy & Clonakilla these are ‘house’ wines at our place. I’ll admit though, that there was some trepidation in presenting these wines to people battle hardened on top end Margaret River. One experienced taster pointed out a few flaws in the 04 and wrote in their notes ‘flabby, lack of structure, stewed, hot, good length mind you – really not for me’. He was spot on, and as soon as he pointed it out at our end of the table we dived back into the wine for a closer inspection and concurred. I was a bit more forgiving & still quite enjoyed where this wine was on its journey: despite its shortcomings it was still deliciously mellow & I’d take it over a younger wine most days of the week. The 06 was a decent step up & was generally agreed to be the better wine: it will be longer lived & was only just sneaking into the drinking window (for mine). A real bonus for these two wines was the impeccable provenance, being straight from the wineries cool cellars so we could actually discuss the wines without any question mark on if the wine we were drinking was as the winemaker intended it. The 2014 was delicious and tasted positively young and fruity in comparison. It was never going to win the flight but will no doubt be a good wine down the track. Three people voted the 04, ten the 06 (and 3 votes for wine of the day) and there were two votes for the 2014.
A few questions remain unanswered. Firstly, did these wines win over any real Margaret River tragics? I’m not convinced, though three votes for ‘wine of the day’ was a reassuring outcome. That said, the Flowstone (which appeared later) was, I think, a better wine than even the 06, but at double the price it should have been. The other question concerns the age that we drink our Cabernets. This tasting also confirmed (from a very small sample) that decent Australian cabernet ages very well & a lot slower than you might think. Only two people preferred the youngest wine. So the issue for the consumer is this: how can one have the foresight & means to be able to drink large-ish volumes of good cabernet at its peak, if that requires 10 – 20 years cellaring/storage?
Flight Three. Grampians shiraz 2017: a horizontal.
Info: The best Grampians vintage for at least a decade according to JH & comparable to 2012 in terms of overall quality of shiraz. Where the Grampians region sits in terms of ranking for best Australian region for shiraz is of course subjective but my personal ranking is #1 and a number of commentators including Jeremy Oliver and Huon Hooke consistently express similarly leaning opinions. At their best the wines display the perfumed, seductive fragrance and pepper notes you will see in the best Northern Rhone and cool climate examples, coupled with an admirable structure that you might find in age-worthy examples from the warmer regions. In this flight we will compare the ATR Dakis with the Mt Langi Ghiran ‘Talus & the Seppelt ‘St Peters’. I love these wines & would suggest that whilst they will undoubtedly age, they also drink very well young when the fruit is in full bloom.
L. ATR ‘Dakis’ Shiraz 2017. ($30). Screwcap. 14.5% alc. 100% Shiraz. Rather incredibly, made from vines planted in only 2007(!) this has so far been the pick of the ATR growers series pack, made from five adjacent vineyards to the ATR Hard Hill Road vineyard. HH 96/100, Georgie Nock: ‘buy more of this’.
M. Mt Langi Ghiran ‘Talus’ Shiraz 2017 ($60). Screwcap. 13.5% Alc. 100% Shiraz. New wine from Mt Langi Ghiran sitting below the ‘Langi’ ($200) and ‘Mast’ ($80). Made from a range of vineyard sources of varying ages on the Langi property aiming for a lighter style. HH 95/100.
R .Seppelt ‘St Peters’ Shiraz 2017. ($80). Screwcap. 13.5% alc. 100% Shiraz. Langtons classification: Excellent. One of the benchmark wines of the region, made from a variety of fruit sources including vines planted in the 1950’s. Aged in a variety of oak sizes from 225L barriques up to a 3000L vat. HH 97/100
Post tasting notes
These were dead-set delicious (in the fair dinkum department) & I thought this was easily flight of the day. In hindsight I feel that just how good these wines were may have been lost on a few people, perhaps due the lack of a weak link to make the belters stand out. The Dakis had an incredible, vivacious spring flowers type fragrance & was the most open of the three. Far. King. Delicious. The Talus was very good, but (I thought) had neither the opulence & enchanting bouquet of the Dakis nor the overall class/length of the Seppelt. Lovely wine mind you, & it impressed enough to nab a good amount of votes for wine of the flight. Interestingly, quite a few people ordered these wines on the sheet and every one of them had the Dakis in second, perhaps in recognition of the value? The Seppelt ‘St Peters’ was spellbinding and snuck my vote for wine of the day. It was gloriously long and enchantingly beautiful. Cam brought this one to complete the flight and I’ve since bought some. Prior to this tasting I’d been recommending the ATR wines to a few people & on this performance will continue to do so. I lament the price tag on Langis top Shiraz but finding that similar types of wines are out there at more affordable prices softens the blow significantly. The Dakis had two votes as wine of the flight & two for wine of the day. The Talus four votes for wine of the flight, whilst the Seppelt had nine & two votes for wine of the day.
Mystery Wine
As is customary at these types of events I decanted a red and asked people to guess what it was. A few people thought Shiraz but the majority leaned towards perhaps a three or four year old Margaret River cabernet, possibly from a cooler area within the region. It was a Flowstone ‘Queen of the Earth’ Cabernet from 2012 and attracted two votes for wine of the day. If you are yet to try a wine from Flowstone, they come highly recommended. I’ve previously written about these wines if you have the energy to scroll down a few posts.
Flight Four: The Great 2010 vintage in Europe: a Horizontal.
Info: 2010 was a benchmark vintage for most of Europe including the great regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Northern Rhone, Piedmonte and Tuscany. We are able to cover the first two regions often enough, and potentially as standalone tastings so I’ve selected three wines from the last three regions. For those not familiar, Hermitage is one of the worlds most sought after wines, made from Shiraz and grown on a hill alongside a favourable bend in the Rhone river. The Guigal offering is not a benchmark, unlike his Cote Roties but at roughly a seventh of the price, may offer a glimpse. Mauro Veglio is a traditional producer in Barolo that makes a style of wine that demands bottle age. This was classy, but tight and reserved on release & I am hoping that the a few years bottle age has transformed it into an approachable Barolo. The Tuscan is from the prestigious Brunello Di Montalcino region, considered the worlds best region for Sangiovese. This is a wine made by Antinori (the Penfolds of Tuscany if you will…) and again, is not an absolute benchmark of the style but should likewise offer a glimpse. And if anyone ever feels like dropping a grand or so on a Case Basse ‘Soldero’ / Biondi Santi feel free to invite me over. All wines were purchased at around the $100 mark.
L: Guigal ‘Hermitage’ 2010 (Shiraz). CT 91/100, WS 94/100, RP 92/100
M: Mauro Veglio ‘Castelletto’ Barolo 2010 (Nebbiolo). CT 90.3/100, KOK 94/100, 93/100 RPWA
R :Antinori ‘Pian Delle Vigne’ Brunello Di Montalcino 2010 (Sangiovese). CT 91.3/100, 96/100 AG
Post tasting notes.
What should have been the highlight of the tasting was unequivocally the most underwhelming. It wouldn’t be fair to lump the Barolo in with the other two here as it achieved what it set out to and was a nice ‘tar and roses’ affair with impressive tannins and length. It was too young of course, but was clearly wine of the flight and some thought a contender for wine of the day. Like Matthew Pavlich for most of his career, it deserved far better company.
Interestingly enough, earlier in the week in our group we’d been lamenting the monoculture in our cellars, which are very heavily weighted toward Margaret River Cabernet, Australian Shiraz & a few new world Pinots. Should we be heavier on different varietals, Italian wines, a wider array of regions and the like? On this showing the answer is a reassuringly emphatic ‘no’. The other two wines in this flight were not faulty. There was no TCA or brett issues, and neither were over the hill and heading towards an obvious decline. They were just flat. Great wines generally have vibrancy/energy and that was the thing that stood out most to me.
The Guigal was ok & you could potentially argue it had some nice restraint and elegance about it. But it felt a bit lifeless and had no interesting tertiary notes that I could pick up (some had a better go at it). I think you could easily argue that the Dakis was a third the price and three times as good. I’ve got one left and will re-visit in five years.
The more I drink, the less idea I seem to have about Sangiovese in general, and couldn’t extract much pleasure out of the Pian Delle Vigne. To this date, I haven’t had a Brunello that’s impressed me & offer this quote from Joss Fowler as some kind of explanation.
“Properly good Brunello is hard to find. I reckon that about 20% of winekmakers in Montalcino actually know what they are doing, and there is no shortage of over-done tosh. Sangiovese is a delicate grape variety, one that doesn’t stand up to heavy-handed winemaking”.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m missing something. Never mind Brunello, even good Australian Sangiovese & Chianti tends to goes over my head & seems at its best like solid, decent mid-week type wines when you’re craving a break from the Cab/Shiraz rotation. But perhaps the grape just isn’t capable of delivering at these top end price points (or maybe I just don’t ‘get it’).
One taster questioned the value of these wines & thought them to be quite a waste of money. As much as I’m for broadening the palette, it was hard to argue with his sentiment. In the end the Guigal had two votes for wine of the flight, the Barolo ten (and three for wine of the day) & the Brunello two.
General conclusions
In terms of numbers, the 17 or so worked fine (food/chairs challenges to one side) and we had enough left over of each bottle for a few to have a second taste of their favourite wines. I think a 750ml bottle could be adequately split between 18-20 for that to be enough to gauge quality and have enough of a taste to evaluate the wine.
I didn’t get any feedback on it but personally I enjoyed the open nature of the tasting (rather than blind). Sometimes you can get so caught up trying to pick what a wine is instead of properly assessing the quality in the glass. It was lovely to see the ATR Dakis deliver & as commented by a few, was clearly the best value wine of the day. Yet it had an unenviable task of trying to steal votes from the sublime Seppelt and the delightful Langi, proving that all things are relative in tastings like these. It was also quite surprising how widespread the ‘wine of the day’ votes were as quite often there is one or two standouts.
On a day like this, as much as a bit of focus is intended to be on the wines we were all pretty excited to see each other and catch up after some Covid restrictions had been lifted. That was understandable (this was my first time in Perth since February due to the travel restrictions) so I thank those who just wanted to chat for occasionally shifting their focus back on the wines and providing some feedback.
One thing I love about these types of days is seeing people discover what they like with the benefit of a wider context than just the one bottle they are drinking at the time. When finding out what types of wine you like comparison is king. An old friend but not a massive wine lover & first timer to these days wrote some good notes and from that it was identifiable that the wines he liked tended towards the integrated, more mellowed/less fruit driven styles. Over the years he’d often ask me what he should be buying or drinking & I feel I’m in far better a position to give an answer now.
Lastly, the more I think about the dud European wines the more they remind me of wines we’ve taken back from trips overseas. You drink the wines there and they are brilliant, and then you get them home and they are just ok. Something has happened in the travel and they don’t go completely off but they just seem a bit flat. They’re fragile things & it can be frustrating as I’d love to be able to share some of the great high points that these types of wines can occasionally deliver. But I’m not clever enough to say what happened to these wines. They were from a source that is generally reliable but anything could have happened before they ended up in my possession. Maybe they were just duds. It leads one to ponder the make up of their own cellars. I won’t stop buying Northern Rhone occasionally (nor am I planning on scaling back the Bordeaux/Burgundy) & I wish I had a few more decent Nebs in the cellar. But on the whole I think we get things pretty right in terms of heavily leaning towards local favourites that we understand & have sifted out and narrowed ourselves down to over years of critical tasting. Drink what you like, taste as much as you can.
Until next time.
Ambrose/The Wine Accomplice.
The Wine Accomplice 