AFF Wine Lovers Meet Up - 13th May 2016 in Sydney

[Steady]

And I quote "it's tough drinking awesome wine all night" Alzoam

 

[Steady]

Still going

Unbelievable!

 

[Steady]

It's after 2am and I am back at my room now following a excellent night of wine tasting and AFF fellowship- thanks Wozza and Katy for organising the get together and an extra thanks to Wozza for the premium wines you opened at the after party.

 

[penegal]

Big thanks to Wozza (and Katy - the secret second pair of hands behind the scenes) for a great night out. I'm now enjoying a warm down Veuve back at my horrible hotel looking at a tolerable piece of Sydney architecture.

 

[Katy]

Huge thanks to Wozza for organising and everyone for coming! It was awesome to see some new faces as well as the veterans and I hope everyone had a great night

 

[DrSammyLee]

Thanks for organizing Wozza and Katy. It was a fun night again. Hope to see you all again next time!

Woke up with a mouth full of.... tannins. A night of all Cabs was pretty tough on the palate

 

[RooFlyer]

I'd like to add my thanks to Wozza and Katy for a splendid night, and big extra thanks to wozza for the superb 'afters' drinks.

 

[penegal]

Oh yes, the after drinks was great also. Huge thanks to Wozza for his generosity opening some very nice wines. Had I known I would have brought something else along to share. Next time. Or perhaps I should try and organise a Melbourne night.

I left the hotel and my bag felt quite a bit lighter so I thought I had forgotten something, then I realised it was wine I had brought along. Get to the airport, and realise I did leave my phone charger plugged in on the bedside. Ah well - Good thing I am back at the same hotel Tuesday, and have a spare charger.

What an amateur

 

[penegal]

For those who don't venture to other threads - my view

Thanks Sydney for the hospitality

A really strange place

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[AnonymousCoward]

What a great night - the people were OK as well. Just kidding - great company and some great wine.

Thanks to Wozza & Katy, and everyone else who helped put it all together. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Jef6050]

Thanks to Wozza and Katy for the great organisation. And to Wozza and AC for some complex scoring calculations! Some great wines and and a fun night!

 

[AnonymousCoward]

The drinking list - I can't remember all the winners, so will leave that to Wozza or Alzoam to post:

IN addition to the two great Coonawarra's that JMPhoto contributed, which opened the evening, we then had:

Oldies
1. Orlando St Hugo 2000 (Coonawarra)
2. D'Arenberg Coppermine Road 2001 (McLaren Vale)
3. D'Arenberg Coppermine Road 2005 (McLaren Vale)
4. Elderton Ashmead 2006 (Barossa)
5. Domaine A Cabernet 2004 (Coal River)
6. Yarraloch Stephanie's Dream 2006 (Yarra Valley)

Young 'Uns
8. Taylor's St Andrews 2009 (Clare Valley)
9. Teusner Cabernet 2009 (Eden Valley)
10. Rockfords Rifle Range 2009 (Barossa)
11. Yering Station Storing Lane 2012 (Yarra Valley)
12. Maverick Twins Cab Blend 2013 (Barossa)
13. Fox Gordon Brothers & Sisters 2014 (Barossa)
14. Renzaglia Cabernet 2013 (Bathurst)

finished off with another oldie:
7. Prince of Orange fortified (Orange)

Definitely quite a variety of styles and tastes there, particularly the fortified at the end!

Great to put faces to names, and wines to pictures of bottles wrapped in paper

 

[serfty]

What happened to the carafe?

 

[Steady]

What happened to the carafe?

it was the spittoon :shock:

 

[AnonymousCoward]

What happened to the carafe?

It's the AFF cabernet, merlot, petit verdot, shiraz 'special' blend for next event...

 

[serfty]

It's the AFF cabernet, merlot, petit verdot, shiraz 'special' blend for next event...

Ugghhh .. i presume it had a suitable epitaph ...

 

[Delectable Blue]

Well, I have finally emerged from my cabernet induced diabetic coma. Many thanks to everyone who came along and shared a memorable evening with us. Many thanks to Wozza for his tireless efforts to organise the evening and run the tasting. And thanks to our wonderful Coonawarra benefactors for their generous contributions.

I've finally had time to sit down and decipher my tasting notes from the evening, so here are my observations. Again many apologies to any wine with a tasting number higher than ten. My palate was really played out by that stage.

The Warmup

(A) Koonara The Head Honcho 2012 (Coonawarra)

It doesn’t seem fair to review this wine at such a young age, when it clearly has decades ahead of it. Blackberry fruit with secondary blueberry flavours. Cool mint on the front of the palate, building to a complex savoury profile on the mid-palate, and a nicely rounded finish on the back palate. Fine and dusty tannins. The oak still playing a dominant role, with enough acidity to carry it though many years. Quite nice now, should be a stunner down the track.

(B) Raidis Estate The Trip 2008 (Coonawarra)

Succulent and vibrant fruit. Seductive and smooth. Nice complexity building after only a few minutes - cigar box, old leather & mocca. The tannins ultra fine and already very well integrated. A stunning wine. A pity we only had a few minutes to savour it, I would have liked a much longer lingering audition. The wine of the night for me.

The Oldies

(1) Orlando St Hugo 2000 (Coonawarra)

A serious wine. Tastes quite aged, but the fruit is still well defined and carrying sufficient freshness. A beautifully balanced wine, nice complexity building over a few minutes (which is all the time we had for tasting). Smoky aromas and subtle cedar a testament to quality oak treatment. Very nice, but maybe slightly past its best.

(2) D’Arenberg The Coppermine Road 2001 (McLaren Vale)

A fragrant, but slightly hot smelling bouquet, with vintage port like overtones. Vibrant cassis fruit on the front palate building to good mid-palate complexity. Cedar, vanilla with a touch of menthol. Very smooth with a nice balance. Dusty fine tannins. Very nice.

(3) D’Arenberg The Coppermine Road 2005 (McLaren Vale)

A beautiful wine of great power and depth. Perfectly ripened blackberry, cassis and blueberry fruit. Wonderful mid-palate complexity, with cigar box, black olive and mocca. Nice balance, but still slightly acidic. Fine dusty tannins. Tastes like it still has plenty of time ahead of it.

(4) Elderton Ashmead 2006 (Barossa)

A wine of great delicacy and balance. The fruit is still powerful, but it’s the wonderful, elegant mid-palate that really shines. Smooth but so complex. A pity there is not more time to tease it apart. Another wine I’d like to spend a whole evening with. Simply wonderful.

(5) Domaine A Cabernet 2004 (Coal River)

This is an unusual cabernet style, and not one I am overly familiar with. I haven’t really warmed to it in such a short time. Slightly austere, the fruit flavours are quite subdued allowing some earthy brambly flavours to dominate. There are also barnyard and forrest floor flavours that I’m more familiar with in Pinot Noir. They feel somehow out of place in a cabernet. Well integrated tannins, but a lingering savoury dryness to the finish.

(6) Yarraloch Stephanie's Dream 2006 (Yarra Valley)

This wine tastes much younger than the other oldies. It’s still a little tannic for me at this stage. The fruit is quite fresh, but not too jammy, with raspberry flavours predominating. Some complexity evident, mostly in the cedar and cigar box range. Dusty tannins, still a little drying.

(7) Prince of Orange The Surveyors Nip fortified (Orange)

Hey, is this really a cabernet? I don’t really care at this end of the evening. I love fortified wines. Unfortunately my palate is fried, so I don’t have any meaningful notes except that I loved it.

The Young 'Uns

(8) Taylor's St Andrews 2009 (Clare Valley)

An almost overpowering sweetness on the attack. Maybe a little too jammy for me. There is a hint of vanilla, cigar box and cedar, but the favours are a little unbalanced by the sweetness (also maybe my palate is fading). Thankfully the wine does have ample tannins, otherwise that sweetness would be overwhelming.

(9) Teusner Cabernet 2009 (Eden Valley)

This is nice. There is still great vibrancy in the fruit, without being too sweet. There is a nice savoury base underpinning the fruit, with sweet tobacco and cedar. There is nice complexity building, but not enough time to dissect it in detail.

(10) Rockford Rifle Range 2009 (Barossa)

A stunning wine. Great vibrancy still in the fruit, with wonderful savoury complexity following on the palate. Perfectly balanced with prominent but well integrated oak. Scrumptious.

(11) Yering Station Spring Lane 2012 (Yarra Valley)

A very elegant tasting wine. Unfortunately my palate is now quite faded so I’m having trouble discerning all the flavours, but there seems to be a lot going on. Yum. Thankfully I got to bring a bottle of this home, so I can give it the attention it deserves at a later date.

(12) Maverick Twins Cab Blend 2013 (Barossa)

Smells like a Vino mof_ bargain, tastes like a Vino mof_ bargain. Nice fruit and complexity. Good balance. Maybe a slight mid-palate hole, maybe palate fade, but otherwise highly enjoyable.

(13) Fox Gordon Brothers & Sisters 2014 (Barossa)

The Vino mof_ bargain of the year for me. A wine of stunning beauty, great complexity and balance. Simply gorgeous. A deserved winner in this category.

(14) Renzaglia Cabernet 2013 (Bathurst)

My palate really has faded now. Tastes very nice though...

 

[Wozza]

I don't know how you write such great tasting notes under the pressure cooker of trying so many wines in such a short space of time, Delectable Blue. Amazing.

Well. I ended up trying 20 wines over the course of the night. Topping out with some absolute gems. I loved all of them. Australia - you do know how to make a good Cabernet. The venue was understated, and generous with the food. And the Italian fare matched nicely with the Cabernets. It turned out to be another great night of connecting offline, putting smiley faces to those AFF monikers I often see. Great to see some new faces. And lovely to see some familiar faces too. And thank you to all those who travelled from far away. You are amazing.

The 16 wines were split into 3 groups. There was the warm up act - the two wines from our friends from the Coonawarra. There was the Oldies - comprising 7 wines from 2000-2006. And then there was the Young'uns - comprising 7 wines from 2009-2014. Having run this previously, I had predicted there would be a wide array of taste preferences. I also predicted the bigger wines would need to go first, as Aussie Cabs are renowned for their prominent tannins. And I predicted the scores would become more generous towards the end, as happened last time (I couldn't guess why!) (three of the last four wines tasted were all placed). I tried to group the wines by age and region or warm climate and cool climate within the group I had been given. I put the fortified at the end - well that's just where it belongs, as it's always a treat to have a fine sweet wine to wrap up the night.

The winners were:

Warm Up Act *

1st Place - the Raidis The Trip Cabernet Blend 2008

2nd Place - the Koonara Head Honcho Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

* No proper scoring for these, just a rough straw pole of the table on their preference

Pool 1 : the Oldies

1st Place - the Elderton Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (115/156 points) (Katy)

2nd Place - the D'Arenberg Coppermine Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (90/156 points) (Delectable Blue)

3rd Place - the Prince of Orange Fortified Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (80/156 points) (TDC)

Pool 2 : the Young'uns

1st Place - the Fox Gordon Brothers & Sisters Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 (100/156 points) (Steady)

2nd Place - the Rockford Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (98/156 points) (Rooflyer)

3rd Place - the Maverick Twins Cabernet Blend 2013 (96/156 points) (Katy +1)

After Party **

1st Place - the Torbreck RunRig Shiraz 2006

2nd Place - the Standish Shiraz 2006

2nd Place - the Yangarra Estate McLaren Vale Ironheart Shiraz 2012

4th Place - the Elderton Command Shiraz 2006

** Again. No proper scoring. Just based on the number of wows each wine was getting!

As you can see there were some great wines. And some deserved great scores. Part 2 to follow with some thought from me on the wines.

Suffice to say for now - thank you to one and all for coming. You were great fun, and made the night very special. Thank you for bringing such lovely wines too.

And watch this space, as we'll be doing 2016 - Part 3 some time in the Spring. And it's going to be a good one : Shiraz ...!

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm so glad that I didn't compare notes with Delectable Blue :shock: . And I really like the way wozza arranged the prizes - you won a prize for bringing the winning wines, not for picking them .

In view of it being such a great evening, wozza, I've decided not to let Mr O'Callaghan know that you called his wine a 'pretender' .

 

[penegal]

Your tasting notes are somewhat more articulate than my scribbles which I can vaguely understand what I meant.

I really should have been a medical doctor instead of the evil type.