I look forward to this show each year as it is a great opportunity to try many many many different kinds of wine from all over Australia...in fact, you're basically not given enough time to try them all..
Overall, this year the show was far better organized than last year. Wine was organized by varietal rather than numerical classes. This meant all of the Chardonnays were together, from the cheaper higher production to the named single vineyard premium class...The same for Shiraz, etc.
Another big plus was the tutorials were actually on time and ready to go. Last year, the tutorials were running late, weren't even set up...and of course ended late. This meant everyone wasted extra time just waiting around and in fact, the whole tutorial just ended up being a waste of time. This year, everything was setup, they had multiple rooms to handle all of the traffic and, for the most part, they were on time. I definitely think feedback from last year (not necessarily mine but a lot of people complained I'm sure) was taken in and the organizers should be congratulated.
Overall impressions of the wine this year....Not as good as last years...the whites, overall, were pretty good....The reds...a bit disappointing. I wasn't sure if this was because I had whites first or because I went to that Riesling tasting and my palate was still funny...or if it was just the reds were not that impressive. My wine buddy had a similar opinion so I figure it just must be the entries in this year's show...
Highlights White:
Peter Lehmann Wigan Riesling basically all of the vintages they had there...were good. This is definitely one of the best Rieslings in Australia...Consistently good, always a great nose, great acidity, great complexity...ages fantastic...nice long finish...Fantastic stuff...
Tyrrells Vat 1 Semillon 2006. Another great Vat 1. Not as developed as I'd like but you can see that it'll get there.
Xanadu Reserve Chardonnay 2010. Their normal Chardonnay is a good buy...their Reserve is pretty fantastic with really good acidity, good use of oak...nice pure fruit...very Burg like.....the only issue I have with this wine is the price....
Highlights Reds: None. This isn't to say there weren't good reds...but for whatever reason, I was just really disappointed with most of them. Maybe my expectations were not right? I'm not sure...A good showing for the Hunter...I thought Briar Ridge and Meerea Park were still pretty good (although I was disappointed by the MP Howard 2007 Shiraz...not good at all compared to the 2006). I confirmed that the Xanadu Cab 2008 that I had in the US with the metallic smell must have just been that bottle or batch because I tried it again at the show and it was good and like I had remembered previously...no metallic smell to it...
Paringa's Pinot Noir was fairly good....Coldstream Pinot Noir was also pretty good considering it was an Aussie Pinot...It isn't that I don't like Aussie Pinots...I just don't think they're that good compared to so many other places....Bass Phillip seems great...and I'm sure there are others....
Stickies: I normally don't get this far but with the number of disappointing reds...
Penfolds Great Grandfather. I didn't even know about this but it was probably one of the main highlights of the entire show for me...Fantastic Tawny....Layers and layers of complexity...Finish was tremendous...They also had the Penfolds Grandfather which was very similar. The Great Grandfather just seemed like it had a bit more complexity and depth...but that said, I think the difference in price is something like 300 vs. 80...is the Great Grandfather that much better? Probably not...still really good though.
Oddly enough the Penfolds Bluestone 10 year old did better show wise than the Great Grandfather...It had better acidity and a cleaner taste...but far more simple...I can only guess the acidity helped it here? I dunno...
Overall...Great event. Hoping next year we'll see some highlight reds...
No comments:
Post a Comment