87+ points
Adelaide Hills, South Australia. 12.5%
Light colour. Pleasantly savoury. I’m at a loss to know where this wine might go, I’m not used to drinking such young reds.
I suspect it’s not for very long aging.
91 points
Hunter Valley. 12.8%
Gorgeous complex aromas of leather and tiny trace of brett.
Savoury sweet med bodied palate. Soft tannin. Surprisingly spritzig which requires shaking off.
90+ points
Pinot dominant Champagne, or at least this is the flavour I noticed which reminded me how much blanc de blanc we drink.
Rather fine if a bit disjointed. Needs a few years to settle down. Some wonderful Champage produced in 2004.
90++ points
Hunter Valley,NSW, Australia. 12.5%
Concentrated wine with youthful acidity and oak. On a frame of only 12.5% alcohol – a long way from being a syrupy blockbuster. Tremendous potential.
Savoury complex shiraz without the floral aspects of cool climate shiraz nor any of the pruney aspects of warm climate shiraz. Like Hermitage in a good year!
92 points
South Australia. 13.5%
This is a pretty lovely Grange. Signature flavours.
It’s quite restrained although still an oaky warm climate wine. Complex characterful with lots of life in it. Drink now or over next decade.
88+ Points
Burgenland Austria. 12.5%
I thought that this was Pinot. But apparently the grape is St Laurent, which is like Pinot, but (being Austrian) very dark cherry-like. Very enjoyable though young. Of course I have no experience with aging. It’s fresh tasty, nothing over-worked. So my advice is enjoy now.
91+ points
Hunter Valley,Australia. 13%
Seems odd to put a plus sign (for extra potential) on a wine already almost 14 years old but this has a way to go. Aged complexity is emerging, but there is plenty of fruit sweetness, almost too much. Otherwise it has nice restraint.
Lovely aromas. Inviting. Varietal. Not masked by oak.
89 points
Hunter Valley, Australia. Unknown alcohol level probably 13% or lower.
Yes a real mueseum wine with fabulous old label. Fill level was down to just below top shoulder, not alarming for a wine of 46 years.
From “the old paddock” and “the old hill”.
Quite good darkish colour.
Clear nose, very old.
Possibly the most savoury dry wine I’ve ever had. All fruit sweetness has dried up. Surprisingly there seems to be some lingering oak flavour. With food this was quite good. Nice weight. Interesting aged flavours. The next bottle which has better fill might even be better?
89+ points
Saint Julien. 13%
Quite a burly wine, ripe and dense rather than fragrant. I wouldn’t spot this as 1996. But I’m optimistic that it will gain in complexity and elegance with a little more time.
92+ points
Hunter Valley, Australia. 13%
Top wines are marked not just by their concentration of flavour but by their wonderful balance. This wine is beautiful young, pristine shiraz, totally effortless nothing forced, everything nicely in place, including moderate alcohol.
Needless to say this is attractive drinking now but it really is a waste the flavours are still youthful and primary. The rewards of cellaring should be great.
84 points
Saint-Chinian, Languedoc. 13.5%
Simple, but good Shiraz (70%) blend.
91+ points
Grampians, Victoria. 13.5% screwcap
This is very good. Sleek, concentrated, great flavour. Quite fresh and young, has long life ahead of it. Great components, bright savoury fruit, restrained French oak. Impressive young wine.
Enjoy now or in 10 years time.
89 points
Barossa Valley, South Australia. 14.5%
I’d forgotten how Penfolds this wine is, the added acid and sunstantial oak. Best after breathing. These are wines best consumed young for the bright fruit or as old as possible (definitly 12+ years).
PS Awesome bottle. Best back label in Australia.
91 points
Coonawarra Cabernet & Barossa Valley Shiraz. South Australia. 13.5%
When I lasted tasted this wine it was in Bordeaux in the company of some old claret and this wine stood out as quite a freak. Not because of the shiraz, but the American oak, the eucalypt mintiness, and the added acid.
Today a few years later and alongside a Coonawarra Cab it’s less freaky but still a very unusual wine. It’s so obviously built for long aging. Very concentrated and with lots of tannin, both grape and oak, and the acid of course.
I think this really does have the potential to turn into something dry and more ethereal, as very old food friendly table wine. But it’s 23 years old already and it still tastes manufactured, not complete relaxed wine.
89 points
Coonawarra, South Australia. 13%
Fresh colour. Has a mixture of young and old characters. Some oddly vanillian French oak. It’s not going to age well further I suspect, it will get further disjointed. But, for now, with food, it is a pleasant drop. Interesting, for a fairly simple Bordeaux blend.
84 points
Southern Rhone, France. 15.5%
Cheap Chateauneuf. OK for the price. Starts out as simple young Grenache but turns into Pleasant savoury luncheon wine after being breathed a good bit.
91 & 92 points
Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia. 13.5% & 12.4%
Both flavoursome Shiraz unadorned with new oak flavours. Both mid-weight although the 98 is darker, more dense and ripe. The 91 is all the more fascinating for its low alcohol. A lovely complete wine. A good bottle.
Clean modern wines but characterful reflections of terroir (without any “sweaty saddle”). Ahead of their time.
89 points
Margaret River, WA. 13%
Full flavoured chardonnay. Oak well integrated. Good early drinking restaurant wine. Almost oily texture. Says only 13% on the label, thank goodness, this wine would be unbalanced if it were any higher. Although this is a lucious forward wine it does have nice balancing acidity – for now.
90+ points
Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux. 13.5%
Dark colour. Complex, savoury nose rather than pretty. A bit funky. Touch mercapten.
Rich but not weighty, nor the least bit extracted. Thankfully not a souped up St Emilion. Has some development ahead of it, enjoyable but still a tad closed. I’m pleased I bought this wine that was quite unknown to me.
89+ points
Clare Valley, South Australia. 12.4%
Savoury passionfruit. Characterful wine once you get past the considerable trapped CO2. Good naturalacidity.
A long future ahead.
88+ points
Crozes-Hermitage, France. 13%
From Maxime Graillot, son of Alan, famous Crozes-Hermitage producer. This vintage is quite a confronting wine. It’s not green but it reeks of stalky floral flavour. And black pepper.
It’s been near impossible to drink until now when it’s starting to calm down and put on some flesh. I find it hard to believe this wine will ever be more than characterful, but I’m optimistic.
Interesting to give to someone used to warm climate shiraz. I don’t think they would ever guess it is the same grape.
88 points
Barolo, Italy. 14%
One of the more accessible Barolos I’ve tried. Roses acid and oak with savoury tannic finish.
Lacks intensity of flavour though compared to French varietals.
80 points
Pauillac, Bordeaux. 13%
The most disappointing vintage of Lynch-Moussas I’ve ever tasted. Let’s just hope this is an ackward closed stage in its development.
Currently hard, no fruit core sweetness, quite robust, acidic too. Completely not the charming red fruits style Pauillac that it is usually.
80 points
Cotes de Francs, Bordeaux, France. 13.5%
An interesting wine 35% Cab Franc, 10 % Cab, 35% Malbec (which really shows) and only 20% Merlot. But in this vintage it hasn’t been able to age. Prune characters are dustracting. Low acid. Lacks vivacity.
Drink your 2003 Bordeaux now.
90+ points
Whoa, this is intense powerful champagne. Not pretty. Will benefit from more bottle age, two nights later the second half of the bottle was more charming than the first.
I’m not sure I approve of this style, but nevertheless it’s impressive, particularly coming from such a large commercial house.
Great label – unmistakenly vintage champagne!
87 points
Margaret River, WA. 12.9%
Hard to get up enthusiasm for this wine, although it does have some Chenin character, underneath its acid there is an apply,almost custard apple character. Lacks the racey acidity of the Loire.
Dry. Restrained alcohol compared with many Sth African Chenins.
89 points
Adelaide Hills (58%) McLaren Vale (21%) Langhorne Creek (21%). 14.5%
Apart from the oak, which is a touch over-the-top the fruit, acid, alcohol balance is nice. A flavoursome wine.
87+ points. 7.5%
I was surprised to find so little difference between these wines. The Willi Schaefer was a little more developed, again not surprising given it was two years older. The Dr Loosen was more aromatic which I think is due to the screwcap.
Perhaps this similarity is to be expected given that two highly competent winemakers are making wine from the same vineyard.
Neither burst with acid and concentrated flavour. The 30 or so grams of residual sugar perhaps dampen the acid.
Neither are (yet) particularly luscious and flavoursome as good Riesling that has some residual sugar can be.
Given a choice I’d buy the Dr Loosen because of the screwcap.
This book, a history of wine in New Zealand is well researched and written.
It was an interesting read for me particularly as a grew up in the modern wine era and so knew of many of the “chancers and visionaries” who feature in the modern varietal dry table wine era. Many other areas of the world, even old world wine areas, went through a similar revolution in the past 30 years so non Kiwis may also find thus book interesting.
90+ points
Margaret River, Western Australia. 13.6%
I stopped buying Voyager cabernet after the 2004 vintage. Their quality was undeniable but stylistically they were heading towards a hefty Californian style. But this is a breath of fresh air, great (albeit youthful) flavour with a lovely freshness and vitality. I wasn’t surprised to see they have moderated their alcohol level too.
Well done. Seriously good WA cabernet blend.
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