Nice wines I have drunk recently - Red or White

[baiden]

I'm working this weekend so a dry one but here's last weekend's effort and I couldn't have picked more different wines if I tried.

The Mayford was excellent, not a huge amount of fruit but plenty of spices, some cherry and plenty of rustic body depth and dry earthy intensity. Lingers and begs for more. Well balanced and will keep going.
The O'Riada is upfront and assaults instantly with floral and spicy perfume. Probably still a bit young with some purple colours. Had over two nights and opened up a bit to reveal soft fruits, a complex but gentle structure. It teased me all night trying to work out the source of some of the flavours and I can't help but wonder if this is a 100% shiraz but haven't found anything do indicate otherwise. Also an excellent wine that should develop nicely over the next couple of years.

 

[Wozza]

I'm working this weekend so a dry one but here's last weekend's effort and I couldn't have picked more different wines if I tried.
View attachment 91455
The Mayford was excellent, not a huge amount of fruit but plenty of spices, some cherry and plenty of rustic body depth and dry earthy intensity. Lingers and begs for more. Well balanced and will keep going.
The O'Riada is upfront and assaults instantly with floral and spicy perfume. Probably still a bit young with some purple colours. Had over two nights and opened up a bit to reveal soft fruits, a complex but gentle structure. It teased me all night trying to work out the source of some of the flavours and I can't help but wonder if this is a 100% shiraz but haven't found anything do indicate otherwise. Also an excellent wine that should develop nicely over the next couple of years.

Nice note, Baiden. I've not had the O'Riada yet. But I have had a few of the other Clonakillas. From my take, there was a distinct common flavour profile to the wines, that I thought might be down to the fancy French oak they use. The common (but unusual) flavours were honeycomb, ginger and smokiness. Not sure if any of those were detected in your O'Riada, but I thought I'd mention them, just in case they help.

Clonakilla are one of my favourite wine estates. Such quality and interest.

Cheers,


Wozza

 

[Wozza]

Killing time in the taxi back from a client, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on last night's wine:

the Xanadu Reserve Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2013



Here's my Vivino note:

http://www.vivino.com/users/warren-dav/reviews/63179858

"Why try this Margaret River Cab Sauv blend so young?

Intrigue.

Halliday gave 98 saying 'Cabernet doesn't come more intense than this without losing its shape'. Walsh gave 92 saying 'With time, may come together'. I'm more with Halliday as its finely balanced, but get where Gary Walsh is coming from. At $85 there's just enough bang for your buck.

Peering past the youthful alcohol heat, there's an olio of fragrances, including orange peel, raspberry, plums, violets, mint leaf and baking spice. The medium-full bodied palate is warm and inviting, with a big, voluptuous mid palate surge of dark fruits, mulberry, dark chocolate, mint and earthen spice. The finish is long and glycerol, with sweet concentrated raspberry and black pepper rippling away an age. The oak has all but gone, leaving a purity of fruit sensation that justifies its accolades.

It drinks really well now. But it's clearly going to get better. For now, a Wozza 95/100 (4.2/5.0) with more surely to come."

I'm looking forward to round 2 of 3 tonight. Hopefully it's got even better. We'll see ...

 

[Sedimental]

Wozza, I love the Xanadu Cab Sauv that can be had for around $30. Is the Reserve worth nearly 3x as much?

 

[The Warlock]

Killing time in the taxi back from a client, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on last night's wine:

the Xanadu Reserve Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

View attachment 91790

Here's my Vivino note:

http://www.vivino.com/users/warren-dav/reviews/63179858

"Why try this Margaret River Cab Sauv blend so young?

Intrigue.

Halliday gave 98 saying 'Cabernet doesn't come more intense than this without losing its shape'. Walsh gave 92 saying 'With time, may come together'. I'm more with Halliday as its finely balanced, but get where Gary Walsh is coming from. At $85 there's just enough bang for your buck.

Peering past the youthful alcohol heat, there's an olio of fragrances, including orange peel, raspberry, plums, violets, mint leaf and baking spice. The medium-full bodied palate is warm and inviting, with a big, voluptuous mid palate surge of dark fruits, mulberry, dark chocolate, mint and earthen spice. The finish is long and glycerol, with sweet concentrated raspberry and black pepper rippling away an age. The oak has all but gone, leaving a purity of fruit sensation that justifies its accolades.

It drinks really well now. But it's clearly going to get better. For now, a Wozza 95/100 (4.2/5.0) with more surely to come."

I'm looking forward to round 2 of 3 tonight. Hopefully it's got even better. We'll see ...

I tried this and the Steven's Road vineyard Cabernet which is their other top end Cabernet at the Cellar Door last year, preferred the Stevens Road at the time and have a bottle of it cellaring away in the bottom drawer.

in other news.

Fuddling Cup 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - No pic i'm afraid but very very happy with this. It's a beautiful wine (was up recently on Cracka $40 ->$15 and at only $15 with 9 years on it an absolute steal. Drinking perfectly now, complex nose of violets and a bit of funky leather making way for a medium bodied cabernet with great cassis fruit still at the forefront, fine tannins and slight acidity still apparent and clean finish. Not overly complex but just a beautiful wine. It really over delivered. I'm annoyed that I split this 12 pack 3 ways with colleagues although I'm confident they'll be very happy with this and be willing to split with me again in the near future.

 

[QF WP]

Wozza, thank you for extending my vocabulary today: "olio". At first I thought it was a typo, but Google and Wikipedia told me otherwise. I'm on Day 2 of a bottle tonight as well, but it may be very late before I get to it and a review on here (however, it will be nowhere near as prosaic as yours).

 

[Wozza]

Wozza, I love the Xanadu Cab Sauv that can be had for around $30. Is the Reserve worth nearly 3x as much?

Good question, Sedimental.

No.

And yes!

On a straight linear $ for $ basis, no, the Reserve is not 3 times better.

But life isn't that simple, at least not in my world of wine consumption. I tend to evaluate slightly differently, taking into account a number of different factors, including price, to come up with an aggregate score, with some elements increasing the score and others taking it down.

If the Reserve was purely scored on a straight line basis, without taking into account price, then it would get a Wozza 96, even at this very early bottle development age.

But I am judging this Reserve against its peers, where you start to drag in the Cullens and other Cab blends from the Margaret River at the middle-to-top end of the Aussie market.

The reason I don't rate on a pure linear basis is that Usain Bolt is not 3 times quicker than the guy that doesn't get past the first heats (or even the guy that failed to make the championships). The degree of separation of the top guns is fractions, not eons. The more I drink the middle-to-top stuff, the more I appreciate those fractions.

Here, the Reserve stands out for how well it drinks now, even considering how big it is. That's very, very hard to achieve. The complexity and drive and the journey mean it is head and shoulders above the standard Cab. But the second main reason it dropped a point, other than price, was I just didn't like the blend. It was so well done, but it had just a bit too much Malbec (5%) and Petit Verdot (5%) for my liking. I think other estates get the Bordeaux blend combination better.

But with all that said, it's still not 3 times better!

[I feel like I should be a politician with this rather sit on the fence answer! Am I making any sense?!]

 

[Wozza]

Wozza, thank you for extending my vocabulary today: "olio". At first I thought it was a typo, but Google and Wikipedia told me otherwise. I'm on Day 2 of a bottle tonight as well, but it may be very late before I get to it and a review on here (however, it will be nowhere near as prosaic as yours).

Halliday often uses the word melange or cacophony to describe the same thing. I just Googled for a synonym and liked its sound - OLIO. It was a new word on me too. But I quite like it. So I took the plunge knowing Katy and AnonymousCoward will slaughter me for it when we next meet!

 

[penegal]

Quiet one here

How is that drinking?

I think I have 6.

 

[Steady]

I think I have 6.

CellarTracker penegal, CellarTracker.

I "know" I have 9

 

[penegal]

CellarTracker penegal, CellarTracker.

I "know" I have 9

I am still waiting for you to come over and catalogue it all for me...

 

[Sedimental]

Recent dinner at Lutece Bistro in Bardon, Brisbane. Sussing out the restaurant and looking for courses to accompany wines for our Wine Tasting Group's annual dinner in July.
French Restaurant | Brisbane | Lutèce Bistro & Wine Bar
Owner/chef Romain Bapst is a local icon and invented the famed sand crab lasagne when he was at Il Centro.

Propping up the bar was another renowned French restaurateur Thierry Galichet, who recently sold http://montrachet.com.au/ on Given Terrace, and is now during food and wine tours in France. Curiously they were drinking Kronenbourg with a nip of Picon orange liquor.https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=picon&id=B4DC48D74CDDDB2C40982AA150E31C0B0DD646CC&FORM=IQFRBA
Apparently Thierry discovered this on a recent trip to Paris and Romain is the Australian importer.

All the food was tremendous and not stodgy like some traditional French cuisine. The standout main was veal on the bone that is sourced from WA. Romain insisted we try a French single malt that was remarkably good to finish.
Lutece comes highly recommended.

 

[QF WP]

CellarTracker penegal, CellarTracker. I "know" I have 9

I am still waiting for you to come over and catalogue it all for me...

I think that's our call Steady - doing anything next weekend?

 

[Steady]

I think that's our call Steady - doing anything next weekend?

Unfortunately....

 

[Delectable Blue]

I am still waiting for you to come over and catalogue it all for me...

Sounds like a great housewarming game drink 1, catalogue 12, drink 1, catalogue 12, drink 1, catalogue 12, drink 1, drink 1, drink 1....

 

[TheRealTMA]

Peking Duck pancakes tonight so one of NZ's CO Pinots to accompany.



Brilliant wine, great depth and character. One of the best producers from CO.

 

[Whining&dining]

Fuddling Cup 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - No pic i'm afraid but very very happy with this. It's a beautiful wine (was up recently on Cracka $40 ->$15 and at only $15 with 9 years on it an absolute steal. Drinking perfectly now, complex nose of violets and a bit of funky leather making way for a medium bodied cabernet with great cassis fruit still at the forefront, fine tannins and slight acidity still apparent and clean finish. Not overly complex but just a beautiful wine. It really over delivered. I'm annoyed that I split this 12 pack 3 ways with colleagues although I'm confident they'll be very happy with this and be willing to split with me again in the near future.

Damn, I had a strong feeling that this had to be a gift but resisted and tried to show restraint but sounds like I missed out! There was certainly the odd nay-sayer on here that doubted the quality of the goods

 

[baiden]

Damn, I had a strong feeling that this had to be a gift but resisted and tried to show restraint but sounds like I missed out! There was certainly the odd nay-sayer on here that doubted the quality of the goods

I'll put my hand up, think I was one of the nay-sayers.
Got to admit though a 2008 still available that is meant to be good and at 15 bucks! an old line I once heard, if it sounds too good to be true........
Live and learn I guess.:-|

 

[The Warlock]

I'll put my hand up, think I was one of the nay-sayers.
Got to admit though a 2008 still available that is meant to be good and at 15 bucks! an old line I once heard, if it sounds too good to be true........
Live and learn I guess.:-|

Yep, it was a risk and wouldn't have boomed but split it three ways in the end. Wishing I hadn't.

 

[GarrettM]

Very rarely feel like a drink during the week, but decided to open this one we picked up in Denmark, WA, back in October. Not too bad. A little fruitier than I'd prefer, but quite refreshing.