Cellar Door March 2017 Hobart Wine Fair
I was excited to see cellardoor.co had a wine fair in Tassieso jumped onto some tickets almost immediately.
CD.co have many TWE wines that I had not had a chance to try,so I figured this would be my chance. I went through their online offerings andnoted down my wish list, it came in at 32 wines J
On the night I was handed a catalogue of wines available fortasting, I went through and marked the ones I had preselected and worked out atasting plan. 20 of the 32 were available… Not much swallowing – lots of waterand occasional water cracker. I was worried about the number so got stuck inand didn’t waste much time on those that didn’t impress immediately - I gotthrough the planned list with 20 minutes to spare so went looking for others andretasted those that I really liked. The Grange taste was on exchange for a cardgiven on entry – At the end of the night there was half an unopened bottle leftso I hung around the Penfolds table and spotted the 389, and also managed asecond taste pour of the Grange - at 60 seconds before last pour when they kneweveryone who has a token had has their chance. I didn’t take flavour notes,just recorded a score out of 10, with 5 as average – 10 as perfect.
The wines I really enjoyed were; Grange, St Henri, Drumborg Riesling,Saltram No.1, St Johns and Michael. The 2 WB CSM’s, and 389 were also notablefor me.
I was expecting more from the St Peters and 3 x Linderman’s
Planned;
Heemskerk George Jensen Cuvee NV 5/10 – disappointed
Leo Buring Clare ’16 Dry Riesling 6.5/10
Leo Buring Eden ’16 Dry Riesling 6/10
Leo Buring ’15 Leonay Riesling 7/10
Leo Buring ’15 Leopold Riesling 6.5/10
Seppelt Drumborg ’16 Riesling 8/10
Heemskerk ’15 PN – 6.5/10
Linderman’s ’13 Limestone 7/10
Linderman’s ’13 Pyrus 7/10
Linderman’s ’13 St George 7/10
Penfolds Bin 28 ’14 7.5/10
Penfolds Grange ’12 9.5/10
Penfolds StHenri ’13 8.5/10
Saltram ’13 No.1 Shiraz 8.5/10
Seppelt Original ’14 Sparkling Shiraz 6.5/10
Seppelt ’14 St Peters 7.75/10
Wolf Blass Black Label ‘06 CSM 8.25/10
Wolf Blass Black Label ‘09 CSM 8.25/10
Wolf Blass ’12 St Johns 8.5/10
Wynn’s ’13 Michael 8.5/10
Planned but not available;
Annie’s Lane Riesling
BaileysTopaque (wasavailable but chose not to)
Coldstream Hills Reserve PN
Coldstream Hills Amphitheatre PN
Saltram Journal
Saltram Reisling
Seppelt Show Sparkling
Wolf Blass Platinum
Wolf Blass White Eden Riesling
Wolf Blass Gold Eden Riesling
Wynn’s John Riddoch
Yellowglen Perle Rose
Extras;
Heemskerk ’11 Chardonnay Pinot 5/10
Abel’s Tempest ’15 PN – 6/10
Penfolds Bin 389 ’14 8/10 – not in the Catalogue
Saltram ’12 Mamre Brook Shiraz 6.5/10
Saltram ’12 Mamre Brook Cab Sauv 6.5/10
Coldstream Hills Reserve ’13 Shiraz 7/10
To wrap it up, the pours were very generous – too generoussometimes and I felt guilty tipping so much into the spittoon. Most of thestaff seemed very knowledgeable about their range but it seemed like they werealso looking after a label on their table they were not so familiar with. Somewines had an extra discount on the night – that said I didn’t buy anything (my 2 guests picked up a case though) I spent 20 minutes savouring the second taste of Grange after they stopped serving and were taking orders, it was divine with a very full body and long finish, complex, deep, balanced, juicy, powdery fine tannins, moorish. Shame it is well out of my price range.
I thoroughly enjoyed the night and feel it was a bargain for the $20 entry fee
