How Important Is Track Record

 I asked myself this question, as I was reading a James Halliday mail, where four wines were rated at 95 points plus, reviewed by different wine critics. They were

- Bleasdale Vineyard Invenium Viam Cabernet Malbec 2020

- Pooles Rock Solier Settler Semillon 2024

- Bannockburn Shiraz 2023

- Dear Zahra Pinot Noir 2024

Bleasdale has been around for a while, but has never stood out, in my experience. Pooles Rock and Dear Zahra I am not familiar with. Bannockburn certainly has the reputation, and some track record, even with Shiraz, not their main variety.

Sure, you could go for wines two and four, if you wanted to try something new. But I find that new labels are often showy. I like to cellar wines, and this leads me to some conservatism, I guess.

What do you think?

Penfolds Bin 90A

 Penfolds Bin 60A is supposedly the greatest Australian wine ever made. I never had the opportunity to taste it. In 1990, a great vintage for Penfolds, the company decided to have another go at this with a 50% Cabernet Sauvignon 50% Barossa Shiraz blend, as it did not want to use more of its excellent grapes to increase the Grange production. Maybe they regretted this later, as the 1990 Grange won Wine Spectator wine of the year in 1995.

Anyway I have two bottles of the Bin 90A in my cellar, the oldest bottles at present. One went through the Penfolds recorking clinic, the other I planned to take later this year. At a special occasion, I wanted to open the recorked bottle a few days ago. I was not paying attention initially, and as the cork started to crumble, I noticed I was opening the other bottle. I was half done, so I kept going as the ullage was good. I needed a sieve to capture the small cork particles, as I was decanting the bottle, but otherwise everything seemed fine.

The wine was surprisingly fresh after 35 years with a layered palate of redcurrant, blueberry, green olive and licorice. The fruit weight was not as big as in Grange, and the Cabernet influence was significant. Clearly, time and maturing also contributed to some fruit weight loss, but this made the wine very drinkable, as the structure was still standing and balanced. The wine was remarkably lively after this time. The tannins were quite transparent and the finish long.

Score: 96/+++

   

Standish Revisited

 The Standish wines of 2018 and 2019 were sensational on release. More intense than Rockford, less ripe than Torbreck, more polished or elegant than Penfolds. What was not to like. In the last couple of years, the magic wore off a bit, but still. But what are the 2018s and 2019s like now, after six and seven years, often the peak of Barossa Shiraz?

The Standish 2018 is still a full-bodied wine, with concentrated blackberry and kirsch flavours. The wine is quite brooding, still holding something back, it seems. The tannins are silky and the finish long. I still give it a high score (96 points), but it does not taste quite as magical as on release. I recommend to let it be for another 3-4 years when the wine will add some elegance and maturity to the power.

The Standish 2019 is brighter and more vibrant. This wine drinks well now. The flavour profile is complex, with black, blue and red fruits on the palate. It does not have the weight of the 2018, and therefore the magic combination of power and elegance, but it is a well made wine (96 points).

Two Exceptional Wines

 In a recent tasting of benchmark wines I came across two wines which I thought were exceptional. The first wine was a 2009 Lucien Le Moine Clos de la Roche Grand Cru.

Clos de la Roche is one of the best terroirs in Morey-St-Denis. Lucien Le Moine is a high quality negociant house who picks one hundred barrels or so from each vintage. There is no winemaking here. They are bought after fermentation. 2009 was a warm and highly regarded vintage.

In Burgundy, the view is that Grand Cru wines need to fire on three cylinders; fruit, tannins, and acidity. And this is what this wine does, almost. This is a concentrated, yet elegant wine with strong aromatics of rose petals and red cherry. There are interesting secondary flavours here, bacon stands out for me. The fruit has started its downhill run, but only just. The wine is quite tannic, like a Gevrey-Chambertin. So: fruit 9, tannins 10, acidity 7. The finish is long.

Score: 96/+++ 

The second wine was a 2016 Podere S. Giuseppe Brunello di Montalcino Stella di Campalto

The grapes come from a 25 year old vineyard, organically/biodynamically farmed. The combination of Stella di Campalto's uncompromising farm management and the Podere San Giuseppe winery make this one of the standout Brunello producers.

The wine is red and black fruited, black olive and some herbal notes. It is still quite youthful. The wine is incredibly elegant, while underneath its flavours sits restrained power. It is so harmonious. The tannins are very firm. The wine is 100% Sangiovese, but in the tasting a number of us thought this wine to be Nebbiolo. 

The best Sangiovese I have ever had.

Score: 97/+++

These two wines are expensive. Are they worth two or three Mt. Edelstones? I think so.

The Penfolds Collection 2025

 It is this time of year again, when Penfolds releases its new set of wines. And I am very annoyed. The stable of Penfolds related wine critics have given these wines massive scores. 97 points for the 2022 FWT 543 Cabernet Syrah? Really? Only three points less than for a Mouton or Petrus in their best years? This is ridiculous and makes a mockery of a points based review system in Australia. Below, I will be more realistic.

Above is a list of the wines I tasted. Unfortunately, there were many entry level wines among them. The two white wines were both disappointing. They were quite broad and lacked precision.

I quite enjoyed the 2024 Bin 23 Pinot Noir. It was quite perfumed with smooth tannins (90 points). The 2024 Bin 23 Grenache was less enjoyable. While is was clean and fresh, its bubblegum flavours spoilt the experience (88 points). Then came the above quoted 2022 FWT 543 Cabernet Syrah, a blend from Bordeaux and Langedoc. This wine is quite austere, with a blend of blackcurrant and savoury flavours. It is not very intense, but will improve with time (92 points).

Then came three higher level wines from the 2023 vintage. They were the main disappointment. Clearly, Penfolds was struggling with this vintage, in particular the Cabernet fruit. The Bin 28 Shiraz was quite balanced, but did not have a lot of character (92 points). The Bin 389 had more depth, but was lighter than usual, and the Cabernet component unusually dormant (93 points). The Bin 407 was also quite light, but showed some elegance in return (92 points).

Then came the highlight, the 2021 Penfolds Grange. And yes, it was a highlight. This wine pointed to the future of Grange. It was profound in the Grange style, but also approachable. Blackberry fruit dominated the palate at this point, but a lot of other flavour components will reveal themselves. It is still big and concentrated, built like a skyscraper as Robert Parker once famously said, but it has a freshness and drinkability, which is remarkable.

Score: 98/+++ (can go higher with time as more layers of fruit reveal themselves.) 

I Got Fooled

 A few days ago, I went to a fine dining restaurant in Bangkok. I chose matching wines, because I was interested to see what this restaurant would come up with. I tasted the wines blind. There were the unsurprising Champagne, Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, and then a really surprising fresh red wine. I was not sure, a Gamay or a Burgundy?

The Som said it was a Shiraz. No! Impossible. Then the wine was revealed. It was a 2020 Chaminé Red by Cortes de Cima. I enjoyed the liveliness of this wine, its freshness and texture. The wine is actually a blend of a number of varieties, typical for Portugal, with Shiraz and Aragonêz being the major varieties. It includes also Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet. No wonder it was hard to identify.

And the clincher: this wine is about €12-13. The wine is not available in Australia.