May tasting of Solihull Fine Wine Society.

Theme was OZ and two ringers.

Blind as usual.

Flight one

Farr, Chardonnay, Victoria 2002. £18.95
Bright pale gold with a strange toffee and cough drop nose, not unpleasant.
Good weight and balance, long. A nice chard.

Grosset, Picadilly, Chard, Adelaide Hills, 2003. £16
Paler than the Farr, dumb amd restrained, classic riesling ( ha bloody ha),
refreshing acidity and balance. Two hours later had opened up into glorious
buttery Mersault nose. Top class after the initial fauxpas.

Flight two
Farr Pinot Noir, Geelong, Victoria, 2004, £15.40
youngest with good extract, dumb fruit and stalky, poor entry mean fruit,
jst like the nose. That was my note. Two other members thought it was
stunning and we double checked we were drinking the same stuff. I stand by
my notes and got the **** taken somewhat.

Grossett Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, 2003, £16
A hint of brown, bright and viscous. Raspberries and cherries, spice, all in
balance, super, spicy fruit. Yum.

Farr, Sangreal, Geelong, Victoria, Pinot Noir, 2003 £18.90
Wonderful burgundian robe, intense cherries and cinnamon, complex. Soft
sweet mouthful with fat middle, loads of fruit and long, a true fruit bomb,
but someone mentioned sugar and old burgundian habits of adding. sugar and
algerian as per the bad old days. my WOTN

Flight three
Howard Park, cab, merlot, cf, Margaret River, Western Oz. 1998. £21.00
Stunning, leapt out of the glass, in your face oz claret, textbook cabernet
of a colonial nature.Soft fruit and little tannin, at its peak now. long.

d'Angludet, Margaux 1996, (historic cost of £13.75)
Huge extract, deep like port, no age, Vanilla oak cassis, shitty organic,
screamed Margaux. Rasping tannins still, ? enough fruit, try 5 years.
spotted as the ringer.

Flight four
Ch Grand Puy-Lacoste Pauillac, 1986, (Historic £13.30)
Brown edge, tight salty nose with some fruit and spice, fair fruit, but
imbalanced and starting to dry out. a bland hollow wine past its best.

Wynns Coonawarra, John Riddoch Limited Release, South Australia, 1986. £55!!
Dead and cooked, to be returned to the merchants. Crumbly cork, probably sat
in a container in Darwin for a few years.

On Wed, 09 May 2007 11:18:43 GMT, "John T" >
wrote:

>May tasting of Solihull Fine Wine Society.
>
>Theme was OZ and two ringers.
>
>Blind as usual.
>
>Flight one
>
>Farr, Chardonnay, Victoria 2002. £18.95
>Bright pale gold with a strange toffee and cough drop nose, not unpleasant.
>Good weight and balance, long. A nice chard.
>
>Grosset, Picadilly, Chard, Adelaide Hills, 2003. £16
>Paler than the Farr, dumb amd restrained, classic riesling ( ha bloody ha),
>refreshing acidity and balance. Two hours later had opened up into glorious
>buttery Mersault nose. Top class after the initial fauxpas.
>
>Flight two
>Farr Pinot Noir, Geelong, Victoria, 2004, £15.40
> youngest with good extract, dumb fruit and stalky, poor entry mean fruit,
>jst like the nose. That was my note. Two other members thought it was
>stunning and we double checked we were drinking the same stuff. I stand by
>my notes and got the **** taken somewhat.
>
>Grossett Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, 2003, £16
>A hint of brown, bright and viscous. Raspberries and cherries, spice, all in
>balance, super, spicy fruit. Yum.
>
>Farr, Sangreal, Geelong, Victoria, Pinot Noir, 2003 £18.90
>Wonderful burgundian robe, intense cherries and cinnamon, complex. Soft
>sweet mouthful with fat middle, loads of fruit and long, a true fruit bomb,
>but someone mentioned sugar and old burgundian habits of adding. sugar and
>algerian as per the bad old days. my WOTN
>
>Flight three
>Howard Park, cab, merlot, cf, Margaret River, Western Oz. 1998. £21.00
>Stunning, leapt out of the glass, in your face oz claret, textbook cabernet
>of a colonial nature.Soft fruit and little tannin, at its peak now. long.
>
>d'Angludet, Margaux 1996, (historic cost of £13.75)
>Huge extract, deep like port, no age, Vanilla oak cassis, shitty organic,
>screamed Margaux. Rasping tannins still, ? enough fruit, try 5 years.
>spotted as the ringer.
>
>Flight four
>Ch Grand Puy-Lacoste Pauillac, 1986, (Historic £13.30)
>Brown edge, tight salty nose with some fruit and spice, fair fruit, but
>imbalanced and starting to dry out. a bland hollow wine past its best.
>
>Wynns Coonawarra, John Riddoch Limited Release, South Australia, 1986. £55!!
>Dead and cooked, to be returned to the merchants. Crumbly cork, probably sat
>in a container in Darwin for a few years.
>
Interesting notes. Thanks.

The Grosset Chardonnay is consistently excellent, and ranks with
Australia's best. It DOES need time, so not surprising the end tasted
better than the start...:>)

Farr has been a 'rising star' for a few years, and is seen by the wine
geeks as a future top liner. I like his wines without loving them, to
the extent I think the hype outweighs the product.

Had an '85 John Riddoch a few months ago, with a very ordinary cork,
and although not corked, it totally underwhelmed me. Way too bland
for my liking, and think it a bit old to be going through a 'dumb'
phase, so I can only assume it was never meant to be a 20 year stayer.

hooroo....