Nice wines I have drunk recently - Red or White

[JohnM]

A PERfect evening for a BBQ and, after a coolish January, this week is shaping up to be PERfect beach weather. To top it off, school resumes tomorrow and the workers are back at doing whatever they do. I can reclaim my territory .

Whoot, whoot - time to celebrate .

A rummage around and this, which I dragged back from S Africa a few years back, absolutely nailed it:




Rust en Vrede: Rest and Peace.

No alcohol heat despite the ABV.

A glorious wine.

 

[drron]

I did very much enjoy my visit to Rust en Vrede.Fantastic reds and very good food.A definite recommendation.

 

[afro]

$150 at the winery, but this is a museum release. a point of view this is a rrp from the winery.

herbs and a little pepper on the Nose, sweet Red fruit , not ripe ,smooth and good oak integrated together,doesn’t taste like a cheap wine,Good tannins.medium finish.

Aged well, not rough at all, drinking well as a 6 year old, can go for another decade.

 

[VPS]

Excellent Malbec at dinner in Buenos Aires the other night

 

[amaroo]

Ok, but wouldn’t stump up for another.

 

[boomy]

Same producer same vintage, one is Cab Sav the other Shiraz. Both drink will now, the CS is more acclaimed but I thought the Shiraz was more special.

 

[JohnM]

This was different.




I like different...*


*Except when @Daver6 tries to assassinate me with faulty wine.

 

[Daver6]

A few wines consumed in London over the last few days

 

[JohnM]

And? Were any faulty?

BTW, that Ministry of Clouds was given 95 points by Halliday - err, if that means anything .

However, it breached the JohnM wow-factor threshold.

 

[stoney]

This is cruel! Have been having a break for the past 6 weeks and doing really well but I did break out on my birthday when I got into the cellar and had a 2012 Taylors TWP Shiraz and it was smoooooth with a rich plumb after note, in fact I had to have a 2016 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz at a mates place on the weekend. To be honest I reckon the Taylors beat it Hans down. I do love a red but I get carried away (not literally) if I let the chain off. Keep em coming people It is good to get honest opinions.

 

[afro]

This is cruel! Have been having a break for the past 6 weeks and doing really well but I did break out on my birthday when I got into the cellar and had a 2012 Taylors TWP Shiraz and it was smoooooth with a rich plumb after note, in fact I had to have a 2016 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz at a mates place on the weekend. To be honest I reckon the Taylors beat it Hans down. I do love a red but I get carried away (not literally) if I let the chain off. Keep em coming people It is good to get honest opinions.

Taylor shiraz (at least the ones with all those stickers on) are usually made for early drinking , doesn’t mean it’s a bad wine but it’s not fair to judge a st Henri this early. 2016 only released last year?i lost track of penfolds wines. Give it at least 10 years in the cellar then pull out the Taylor again with the st Henri.

 

[stoney]

Taylor shiraz (at least the ones with all those stickers on) are usually made for early drinking , doesn’t mean it’s a bad wine but it’s not fair to judge a st Henri this early. 2016 only released last year?i lost track of penfolds wines. Give it at least 10 years in the cellar then pull out the Taylor again with the st Henri.

Hi Afro, Well if you could give me your opinion following the consumption of the wines I have compared then I could accept your opinion and I respect your opinion of cellering a St Henri and agree that it was too young t6o get the best from it. The TWP is not just the cheap $15 bottle.

 

[afro]

I

Hi Afro, Well if you could give me your opinion following the consumption of the wines I have compared then I could accept your opinion and I respect your opinion of cellering a St Henri and agree that it was too young t6o get the best from it. The TWP is not just the cheap $15 bottle.

I did a little research before that reply I made, not much info on the retail price but $25 at dan Murphy. The following has nothing to do with price , I don’t want you to get a wrong impression of what I’m about to say and I will start with st henri as I’ve never tried Taylor twp. St Henri was t built to be a early drinking wine as far as I know ( from 90’s until now) , you will not get the full potential of the wine without cellaring for a long term, what you getting from this young wine now is now like hard Tannins and some primary fruit , some might felt it is alright to drink now but it is definitely not ready, the winemaking process also different as st Henri stays in barrels/ vat a lot longer before release. A lot more details online if you spend more time to research about the benefits from the winemaking side of things.
I did some reading on Taylor twp just then online, most tasting notes suggested as a fruit forward/ready kind of wine, that’s have a bit to do of the time they pick the grapes and what they decided to do during the winemaking process to made this wine more ready/drinkable when they released it. I want to make something very clear that doesn’t mean Taylor made bad wines, it is just a different wine for different audience/consumers , a simple example would be people like Aussie wines because of the fruit forward characters and where other people like Aussie wines because of the aging potential for the secondary wine characters to come through(maybe in 20 years time or longer). I’m still experimenting myself to found a prefect spot to like a wine , but the interesting thing is all wines are different , there are people out there that doesn’t like aged wines over young wines.
Let’s do a little recap.

drinking young wines gives you the most freshest fruit and strongest nose but at the same time you are not getting the full potential of the wine that might give you in a long run.

drinking cellared wines gives you more pressure and unique experience( since you cellared and waited that long),secondary characters that you might not expected from a wine and also the long lasting flavour that you might get.

 

[teammongo]

I think I've found a cure for the pandemic blues...

 

[afro]

Just entered its 10th year, I think this is around $10 from the rose mount mailing list long ago, I really missed it, lots of good wine at a bargain price.anyway.
fruitful on the nose, blackcurrant, plums, good enough and a medium finish ,about time to start drinking these, 1 down and 11 to go.

 

[wine-muller]

Another little tasting after dinner.both of these are top quality Shiraz , the frost dodger ,vanilla red fruit perfume, earthy mineral sweet fruit the oak mix with the fruit very well and long finish . this winemaker is on Barossa but this wine is made from eden valley fruit,at $35 a bottle I’m getting another 6 pack.

The Francesca Syrah ,this wine made from a used Chardonnay cask, black fruits but not as strong,meaty, this feels like shiraz viognier but a different version , the finish is long and dry. I prefer the frost dodger more.

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I'm going to hijack your post Afro - have had a good look at both these wines now (couple of the 18 Frost Dodgers & a few Grillo's now...). Thanks for the tip on Summerhill wine shop btw. Firstly, the Frost Dodger, particularly after 24hrs of air, is a cracker - a big wine in a more traditional Barossan fashion but with enough structure to hold it all together, the cooling acidity & fine ripple of tannin on the finish a highlight. Fantastic wine.

The Francesca Grillo, for my palate, is the wine I'm enjoying more out of the two, just. It's probably the more challenging wine, in that it's less regionally cliche - not as big on the palate, oak almost non-existent & tannin considerably more assertive (particularly after a breathe to wake them up). More interesting flavour spectrum for my take, it's constantly evolving in the glass in front of you. Very close to meeting the natural wine definition by my understanding, and a great example of why winemakers choose to head down this path. So much interest (without any funk or flaws, to quell the naysayers). Both cracking value at under $40/bottle.

 

[boomy]

After trying Toolangi Pauls Lane and liked their style I’ve got few bottles of the F reserve when it was sold as “mystery” white at DM.

Fantastic drop drinking well now but still young. Not sure I would pay the $80 RRP but < $40 was a bargain for this quality Chardonnay.

 

[afro]

I'm going to hijack your post Afro - have had a good look at both these wines now (couple of the 18 Frost Dodgers & a few Grillo's now...). Thanks for the tip on Summerhill wine shop btw. Firstly, the Frost Dodger, particularly after 24hrs of air, is a cracker - a big wine in a more traditional Barossan fashion but with enough structure to hold it all together, the cooling acidity & fine ripple of tannin on the finish a highlight. Fantastic wine.

The Francesca Grillo, for my palate, is the wine I'm enjoying more out of the two, just. It's probably the more challenging wine, in that it's less regionally cliche - not as big on the palate, oak almost non-existent & tannin considerably more assertive (particularly after a breathe to wake them up). More interesting flavour spectrum for my take, it's constantly evolving in the glass in front of you. Very close to meeting the natural wine definition by my understanding, and a great example of why winemakers choose to head down this path. So much interest (without any funk or flaws, to quell the naysayers). Both cracking value at under $40/bottle.

nicely hijacked! i'm more of a frost dodger fan, bought them since the 08 vintage, the francesca might be better to drink in medium term.

 

[cove]

This thread warmed me to the idea of restocking MossWood, 707 and Hill of Grace. I am ok for Diana Madeline at the moment. My cardiologist would be pleased.
I tend to go Moet with friends over Veuve and Piper for bubbles.
I reserve Krug and PH Rare for flights on SQ.

 

[afro]

I tried them blind and all I can say is the Montestefano is a bit more fruit forward than Montefico but I found the tannins in Montefico has more power. Tasted since Sunday lunch, the tannins just refuse to go away , last night the Montestefano opens up with more sweetness and smoother, Montefico fruit starts to show up a bit but none of that sweetness from the montestefano .this wine only around 40-50usd and sadly around $100aud overhere, cheaper if you place an order early before it lands on ground. Very interesting wine, people keep telling me that barolo is a better wine then I need to start to get more barolo.