National Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 1
Current Vintage (2005) Dry The biggest class on show with 149 wines. Due to time constraints, I aimed to mostly try wines that had done well in the judging – hence the high nature of my scores in this...
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 3
Current Vintage (2005) Sweet Only two wines entered in this class, which made it easy to try everything on offer! The Forrest Estate wine from New Zealand was very good, sweet honey and marmalade along...
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 4
2003 and 2004 Dry The second largest class with sixty eight wines and I tasted through sixty five of them. All wines are from 2004 unless otherwise mentioned. Some good wines, but in general quite...
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 5
2003 and 2004 Semi-Dry As you will probably note from the scores, I was generally unimpressed with this class. Nothing that stood out as being anything better than good. Ten wines in this class, and...
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 6
2003 and 2004 Sweet The standout wine in this class was the Villa Maria “Reserve Noble” 2003 which was rich, intense and sweet with excellent length and balance. Ten wines on offer and nine tasted,...
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 7
Museum Class Dry Thirty wines in this class with thirty tasted. Obviously some very good wines here with some of the better vintages having been kept back by wineries for museum stock. The newly...
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 8
Museum Class Semi-Dry A class with just one entry and one good wine. Firstland “Marlborough” 2002 – 90/100
View ArticleNational Riesling Challenge 2005 – Aus & NZ – Class 9
Museum Class Sweet Only two wines entered into this class. The Brown Brothers Patricia Noble was one of my highlights of the tasting – beautiful balance, extremely concentrated and flavoured, good...
View ArticleSydney Wine Dinner @ Oliveto
Some notes taken at a dinner attended by some fellow wine lovers – Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz 1990 – (Grampians, Victoria): A nice way to start the proceedings. Blackberry, cherry, spice, violets...
View ArticleNY Day Wine Dinner @ Elio
Sydney experienced a 45° celsius (113° fahrenheit) New Years day this year, so we did what any sensible group of wine lovers would do – go ahead with the dinner anyway and celebrate the New Year with...
View Article’88 Bollinger RD, ’94 Henschke Edelstone/Cyril, ’05 Grosset Polish Hill and...
All wines were tasted blind at dinner with some friends from the Winestar Forum with the exception of my bottles which were the Bindi, Sorrenberg and the Elk Cove. Bollinger R.D 1988 – (Champagne,...
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Craggy Range “Le Sol” Syrah 2004
Fast Facts: Variety: Shiraz Region: Hawkes Bay Country: New Zealand Winemaker: Steve Smith Closure: Cork Cost: $85AUD Source: Friend Winery Website: Craggy Range I had a chance to take a very quick...
View ArticleWine Australia 2006 – Pinot Tutorial
I started this event by looking at some varied set of six Pinot Noir with wine writer Peter Bourne and the winemakers from Willow Creek and Ten Minutes by Tractor on the opening Friday night. Willow...
View ArticleFEIRT 06 Workshop: Beyond Dry
The third and final workshop on the second day of the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting in Sydney. This workshop focused on Riesling from the new and old world, in an off-dry style. Dry...
View ArticleCentral Otago Tasting
Olssens 2004 Riesling Little bit of briar, mango and some florals. Good punch to the palate and good length with just a bit of sweetness. 89/100 2004 Charcoal Joe Chardonnay Soft nose, some butter and...
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