Author: Richard

Three Australian vintage fortifieds

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1994 peter lehmann vp

1994 Peter Lehmann “the king” AD 2015 (Vintage Port) 20%
Barossa Valley, 100% Shiraz

An auction purchase last year for $32. Reasonable cork, and abundant sediment.
I thought there was some faint oxidation present, but not to the extent that it would worry – I need to respect a mature, thirty-year-old fortified.

Colour was mature, deep and bricky. The wine offered very classy mellow brandy spirit, hazelnut, mocha, cola and dark plumcake. Absolutely, obviously Australian. The palate was round and rich, with more sweet spices emerging, and the spirit is a winner.

There may be better bottles, but this one will drink to 2030, and 90 points.

1997 ch reynella vp

1997 Chateau Reynella Vintage Port 19%
Bottle #8097, McLaren Vale, South Australia (different bottle image)

Served masked, the wine is still a deep ruby colour with trivial bricking; dark fruited style – black cherry, plum and blackberry, with some spice. Australia, and Shiraz.  The palate is rich, sweet and balanced. with terrific quality brandy spirit. The finish is pleasingly dry finish, but there is some hotness. My guess at its age was late 1980’s to early 1990s.

People at the lunch had no qualms about seeking a top-up., but this bottle was not quite as memorable as the one consumed and reviewed in October 2018.

92 points, and drink to 2030.

1995 S&K vp

1995 Stanton and Killeen Vintage Port 19.0%
95% Shiraz, 5% Touriga Rutherglen, Victoria.

Another auction purchase last year for $31. “A big full style that will mature and improve in bottle for up to 25 years” was the accurate statement on the back label.

Deep ruby with some bricking. Aromatic, violets and menthol, wafts of sweet mixed spices. Mellow, rich and lush – camphor, raspberry jam, sweet dark fruit – blackberry, and raspberry plus excellent brandy spirit.  Yes, it’s less “multi-dimensional” than other vintages of S&K, but their track record is consistently excellent.

To 2030 (or longer), 91 points

Two 2015 Sauternes

~ Richard ~ 1 Comment

Two masked wines were presented, and for readability, I have placed my notes under the wines’ names after they were revealed. Both wines presented as surprisingly enjoyable at such a tender age, and provides enormous encouragement to drink this style earlier rather than wait decades!

two 2015 sauternes

2015 Ch Guiraud 13.5%
Sauternes. (65% semillon, 35% sav blanc, 18 months in new barrels).
Medium gold colour, and bursting with vibrant tropical notes – cumquat, pineapple rind, with vanilla bean and ginger; very good mouthfeel with some smokiness joining the ripe fruit characters. It was just a tad straightforward, and was unfairly compared to  the outrageous charms of the next wine.

Drink to 2035, and 91 points

2015 Ch Rieussec 14%
Sauternes (86% semillon, 14% sav blanc) 148 g/l residual sugar
Medium gold colour, with mixed citrus, just-ripe apricot, marzipan. There is more of everything; oak impact, fruit density, honeyed viscosity, texture, breeziness, freshness and mingled spices with rampant layers of assorted citrus and stonefruit. The balance is superb, and this a super, special, serious wine. I sat in wonder, with time suspended, revelling and fumbling for explanation, description and superlatives. Go hunting!

Drink to 2040, 97 points

One Barossa fortified

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1987 peter lehmann VP back1987 peter lehmann vp front

1987 Peter Lehman “the king” AD 2008 (Vintage Port) 18.5%
Barossa Valley, South Australia, Mainly Shiraz with some Cabernet Sauvignon. Unusual, metal-embossed bottle, with all the detail on the back.

Confusion alert, as the “AD” is meant to announce peak drinking as a 21-year old wine. Anyway, this was a sneaky auction buy last year for $29- pretty smart for a 37yo.

Hefty sediment, dense colour with minor bricking. Dark cherry, roses, liquorice, blackberry and blackcurrant and amazing high-quality brandy spirit. Soft and mellow, but still tannin sneaking away. Absolutely a winner, with time ahead.

Drink to 2034, and 92 points

One Rutherglen fortified

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1988 s & k vp

1988 Stanton and Killeen Vintage Port 18.2%
Rutherglen, Victoria. 100% Shiraz, vintage rated as 8.5/10 by the winemaking team

I’m lucky enough to have purchased this recently at auction for $35 (less than $1 per year!). A decent cork for its age, and its sediment demanded a decant. Very deep black red colour, with definite bricking. Black cherry, plum, blackberry with some chocolates. Sweet but not one-dimensional, there’s some red fruits in the mix with the dark, and a touch of marzipan. Brandy spirit has integrated beautifully, and I can’t see any upside in waiting, as this is downright delicious now, albeit with more time up its sleeve.

Drink to 2030, and 93 points.

Three wines, three countries, two styles

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2007 schmitges auslese

2007 Schmitges Erdener treppchen Riesling auslese* 7.5
Mosel, AP #15, 110 g/l residual sugar (500ml bottle)

Adequate cork. (The * indicates “more” than the minimum ripeness requirements).  Gold colour with a whisp of copper; apricot and tangerine, rum ‘n raisin, candle-wax, baking spices, grapefruit.

Really in the zone – absolutely true to style, energetic viscous honey on palate, plus the mix of dried and fresh citrus peel, and persistent spices. Will live on but why wait?

Drink to 2030, 92 points

1977 Quarles Harris Vintage Port
Portugal, and not a house I am familiar with, but owned by the Symington family, made in a “firm and dry” style.

Served blind, circumstances rendered note-taking difficult. Pale ruby colour, faded roses, putty. The palate showed (light) cherry and some (light) cocoa. The spirit was well integrated, and the wine was fully mature, mellow and enjoyable. My instant conclusion was “Portuguese VP, and greater than twenty years old”. The next part was trying to determine how much older, and I settled with the eighties (probably 1985).  A nice surprise when revealed it was 1977. But the wine may have been better say ten years ago, even though we’re in the realm of cork and cellaring varaiblilty.

Drink now, and 90 points

1994 gehrig vp

1994 Gehrig Vintage Port 17.5%
Rutherglen, Victoria

Served blind, this was clearly a vintage fortified. Pale in colour with rose petal, and a dash of musk/incense, its sweetness suggested an Australian origin. Supple, mellow and ready. On a good drinking plateau. The wine’s donor prompted that I had previously written about this wine (April 2021) and my notes are very different. This wine seemed more mature, with less overt fruit and tannin – and yet it provided greater “deliciousness”. (Photo is from 2021).

Drink soon, and 92 points.

Stoney Goose Ridge mid-year review end 2023

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

While we enjoy the merry festive pause, my own family had a short break ski-ing in Aspen and Niseko, sandwiched with essential productive networking. While my bonus was appropriately substantial, several other staff members also enjoyed a lesser bounty. Now that batteries are recharged, we are ready for complete sacrificial commitment throughout 2024.

After another awesome six months, I can admire some of the highlights.
Key financial results (sales, profit, ROI, cost reduction etc etc)- tick!
CSG metrics– tick, once more.
Legals, contracts – Tick plus!
Wheeling, dealing, acquisitions, influencing, blending directions – my forte- Gold medal.
Data analytics transubstantiation – Huge tick.
My lean support team (PA’s, driver, pilot, stylist, biographer) – Double tick.
Recruitment, promotions and discards, plus professional development – Big tick.
Supply chain efficiencies – tick
Social media metrics, brand strength, customer obsession measures– Monster tick.
Awards – media campaigns, product QA fabrication, PR, accounting improvements – Tick , of course.
New markets and growth, new products, new customers – mega tick again

Stoney Goose Ridge added one new cocktail to our stellar range of pre-mixed drinks – the revolutionary Molotov (vodka, tequila, cherry, tomato and raspberry); debuted the Bin 666 Fortified, plus our select multi-origin Italian IGT wine blends the NFI (Nero, Freisa, Inzolia) and NFT (Nebbiolo, Frappato, Teroldego). All these colossal strides have increased our market footprint.

And our DRC range has gained traction within our target audience of the hyper-wealthy mega-rich whales- oligarchs, tycoons, moguls and of course music and cinema stars (Chateau Left Feet has been completely oversubscribed).

Stoney Goose Ridge staff willingly execute my inspiring whirlwind of fresh ideas, the drumbeat of innovations driving durable profit growth. My visionary decision-making is part of my critical role nurturing our workforce, and I trust the top talent of my hand-picked executive team to fast-track my initiatives.

I welcome new recruits to our business family – they will prosper under my micro-guidance. And I bid farewell to those that lacked sufficient ability and stamina to meet their responsibility matrix KPI targets – they were demonstrably not the smartest knives in the pack.

While the drinks industry struggles with the ongoing crippling financial demands of Governments, and the unrelenting complexity of legislation and its opaque interpretations, we are comforted that our rivals are essentially clueless and fully occupied by hindsight; paying the penalties repeatedly while our entirely legal corporate structure permits us to sidestep many of the hurdles and pitfalls. Plus, our adversaries continue to be diverted by China, COVID, WFH and whimsies de jour. Stoney Goose Ridge has never, and will never bother with the bulk wine market – wafer-thin margins are anathema to our ethos.

Our inept competitors only move the needle in panic when facts on the ground become writing on the wall; their leaders’ narcissism, ignorance, personality cults and inward focus should cement their position in the pantheon of corporate infamy. Hunting for the missing link that joins the dots, their strategies amount to random, but persistent bungling. How did they get into trouble? Gradually, then all at once! I thank them for their myriad efforts.

Our track record of anticipating workplace trends holds us well while volatile macroeconomic headwinds impact the momentum of our omniversal strategy within the hyperdynamic global marketplace. I anticipate the pull-forward of our targets, accelerating our foreshadowed plans. Concomitted refinance steps have improved our liquidity, increasing the covenant headroom to reflect our potential earnings environment. This positions us ideally to gather distressed assets from our inept rivals, for derisory rock-bottom bargain-basement prices.

I anticipate writedowns of their bloated inventory, as their warehouses of stock sink in a fire-sale.

Remember, don’t agree until I finish speaking – and all I ask for is what I deserve.
Your illustrious, charismatic CEO, Hector A Lannible.

One VP and a loss

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1963 Warre’s vintage Port
Served masked. Pale faded rose colour; and determinedly Portuguese; blue and red plum fruit with some Turkish delight, mocha, cocoa, valrhona choc. Completely mellow with just a touch of nuttiness. The spirit is essentially holding this wine together, and my guess for age was around 1970. Great fun as I am rarely fortunate enough to try sixty-year-old VPs, and this wine isn’t yet decrepit. Its donor advised that there was monster sediment that was filtered off.

Drink now (until 2033 and 93 points

Bill Chambers died recently – terrific links are here, and here but I will add a few reminiscences, as I visited Chambers’ winery many times over the years.

Curiously, my (late) father Frank worked at the vineyard for a brief period labouring in the 1940s.  He also took the family to Rutherglen on many occasions, where we usually stayed at Wahgunyah’s Riverside motel, with Buller’s bird park an essential stop. These visits continued with my partner and children.

On one occasion, Bill met us on the tasting verandah letting us know “wines are all in the fridge- help yourselves”. We usually made a point of wandering off to admire the ornate “exhibition” barrel. I also remember finding Bill rebottling some 1958 muscat, which was very reluctant to pour, just slowly trickling. Known for the age and complexity of the muscats and topaques, we could usually also find a well-priced red wine or two to buy. I have many more memories of Bill’s friendliness and generosity.

Finally, one remarkable talent of Bill’s was not well known to the public although wine show judges and winemakers would be aware of his prodigious wine spitting technique.

Bill could effortlessly direct a stream of wine with exceptional pace and accuracy into a bucket several metres away, while we watched in awe and envy – my own efforts shorter, less precise, and with occasional random dribbles. Vale Bill!

Three masked Euro wines from a dinner

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2015 Ch Suduiraut 14%
Sauternes – 94% semillon, 6% sav blanc. Picked in 5 batches, matured for eighteen months in 50% new and 50% one-year old oak, 138g/l residual sugar.

Bright yellow colour, vivid tropical fruits – pineapple, mango, cumquat. Slinky texture with oak sunk into the background, and spices. Fresh, and welcoming, but more pleasure awaits

Drink to 2035, 94 points

2015 Ch Rayne Vigneau 13.5%
Sauternes – 74% semillon, 24% sav blanc, 2% muscadelle

Deep yellow/gold colour; dark honey and citrus, and botrytis dustiness; viscous, intense palate – ripe, rich and ready with a touch of orange/tangelo. I can’t recall trying a wine from this producer before.

Drink to 2030, 91 points

2001 Fonseca quinta do Panascal Vintage Port 20%
Portugal.

Not a generally declared vintage, but this is a very good site – and single quinta wines can often offer exceptional QPR. Deep red colour, showing blueberry, blackberry, “putty”, mocha and nuttiness. Vibrant and rich mouthfeel. Clearly Portuguese, and around 15-20 years old, I wavered between VP and LBVP. My notes thankfully very similar to my previous tasting on June 2021.

Drink to 2033, and 92 points

Two (masked) Euro surprises

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2010 Donnafugata Passito di Pantelleria Ben Rye 14.5%
Sicily, Zibbibo (muscat) and 195g/l residual sugar; partly air-dried to concentrate the sugars.

Deep orange/gold colour, and first impressions ran “muscat, floral, apricot, ripe and vital; super-sweet, loads of spice and length”. Apricot dominates with a mix of jam, tinned fruit and juicy ripe fresh apricots. Engaging viscous texture, with honey and vanilla bean. Having had this style once before, this was instantly identifiable. My guess was around ten years old.

This is not the most complex sweet white wine I have ever encountered, but it possesses intensity and memorability. Clearly it can take some bottle age, but won’t really change, so get stuck in.

Drink to 2028, 93 points.

2006 Ch Filhot 13.5%
Sauternes, 60% semillon, 36% sav blanc, 4% muscadelle. At least 2 years in barrel, 1/3 new

Deep gold colour, with an array of apricot, citrus, vanilla and tropicals. Obviously Sauternes style, and also absolutely at its peak, with a winning mix of fruit, freshness, and mouthfeel. I guessed it was around fifteen years old. I was surprised that it was Ch Filhot, which I generally describe as lighter, affordable but less complex and age-worthy. This was very smart from an average vintage, and outperformed my prejudices!

Drink to 2028, and 91 points

One dinner – four from Europe

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

First up, Australian winemaker John Vickery died recently. He was a gentleman, an expert winemaker and had huge influence on winemakers here. Riesling was his forte, with many memorable wines made at Leo Buring,  Richmond Grove and the eponymous Vickery label. He kickstarted my interest in wine, and my early tribute is here.

A recent dinner I attended had a plethora of interesting wines (all served blind), and I will try to describe a few.

1993 christoffel EP

1993 Christoffel-Berres Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese*** 8.5%
Mosel. Light gold colour- petrol, tropical fruits, blackcurrant. Creamy palate, fresh with terrific balance. Lovely wine from a great site in Mosel. Wines are no longer produced, but there is (or was) a fair stock of wines from 1987-97. This was apparently an auction wine, and the *** indicates greater richness in the style.

Drink to 2033, and 93 points

2011 2013 sauternes

2011 Ch Haut-bergeron 13.5%
Sauternes. Really Interesting to see this after the 2001 tasted recently.

Gold colour, bursting with vanilla, apricot, pineapple rind, Palate is slinky with vanilla bean, marzipan nuttiness and cumquat. Ripe, fresh, dense and dramatic. At least a decade in front of it. Oak plays an important structural role here, but the fruit is winning.

Drink to 2035, and 93 points

2013 Ch Raymond-lafon 13.5%
From half bottles – Slightly duller colour, with nettle and herbal elements. More savoury than the previous wine, palate showing guava, pineapple and passionfruit. Several winemakers present suggested some ignoble rot (aspergillus/penicillium) but in the amount involved won’t affect really enjoyment except for the truly ultra-fastidious.

Drink to 2030, 91 points

2000 Fonseca Vintage Port
Portugal

Sketchy notes made under time pressure “deep ruby colour, almond, spirit a bit hot; red and dark fruits, mellow – Portuguese – early 2000s”. A second bottle was not as good, and the third bottle had vanished before I could assess.

A bit disappointing for Fonseca on the night– drink to 2033, and 90 points