TNs: 41, 44, 64, 64, 70, 74, 76, 77, 93, 94, 99, 00

I love a good arithmetic progression and last night’s was a memorable one. Fibonacci’s has always tickled my fancy, but somehow last night’s was even more enthralling.
The Coonawarra Single bottle club gathered and the theme was simply ‘old and interesting’ and we certainly received both and most fitted into the category of ‘bloody good booze’.

1977 Mildara Semillon
From the first plantings of Semillon in Coonawarra. Past its best and reminded us why little further Semillon was planted.
1944 Seppelt Great Western Sparkling Burgundy (sic)
Probably made from Shiraz, some Ondenc and few other varieties and possibly left on lees for a couple of decades, as the bottle showed metric measurements (post 1966). This was sensational, no fizz left, still quite dark with rich plums and dark chocolate, sweet finish from the liquering. So vibrant and full of life.

2000 Ch Phelan-Segur
Dark, dense, black olives, bitter chocolate with a firm finish. To me needs a bit of time, but plenty of material.

1994 Craiglee Shiraz (Sunbury, Vic)
Really lovely wine with spice, hung meat and energetic acid imbued palate. In a perfect place.
1993 St Hallet Old Block Shiraz
Quiet different in shape to the Craiglee. All leather, sweet warm fruits. It feels more rounded and sweeter in the mid palate but I like the detail of the Craiglee.

1999 Yarra Yering no 1
Still quite youthful, dark fruits and black olives with impeccable balance. Delicious.

1974 Mildara ‘John Murray Blair’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
Close to wine of the night for me. Sweet fruit, sugar coated tannins. The fruits are in the red spectrum, just with a touch of camphor on the finish. Still with bags of life and so spherical in the mouth. A very rare wine as it was a special commemorative bottling, but Doug assures us that he has another couple of cases tucked away.

1970 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
Medium to high shoulder but close to totally shagged. Nose very oxidised, palate hanging on by its fingernails.

1964 Chateau Petit Village (Pomerol)
This is a poster child for buying wines of impeccable provenance. From Peter Lehmann’s substantial cellar. Label in good nick, the wine itself in remarkable condition. Intoxicating fruits, hint of cedar with a long and supple finish that echoes. Still quite bright. Delicious.
1964 Fondillon Gran Reserva
This is a 100% Monastrell, that spent some 15 to 20 yrs in barrel, without fortification. Cloudy and orange, with little hue. Quite to very aldehydic. Quiet bizarre, but rather moreish. Has some serious rancio notes, and reminded me of an 80yr old tawny without the spirit weight. Needs blue cheese and pickled walnuts. It’s not every day that you have 2 x 64s in succession! Like nothing I have ever had before and woudl be right at home at every natural wine bar.
1976 Hungerford Hill Vintage Port
Big, black bruiser with wonderful clean spirit and a heady lift. Still a pup and I just can’t get enough of these 60s and 70s VPs.

1941 Tintara Pot Still Brandy
Given that I had 60kms to drive home through Kangaroo infested roads I managed to stop at one sip. All oak and spice with a vanillin edge. Lovely pure spirit.

Love that Ondenc. Kidding, never heard of it.
Couldn’t you get the brandy to go in a sippy cup for the next day?
Great notes, thanks. I have bad luck buying older Australian wines, great luck aging them myself.

(Edited to add: when one is driving, an end-of-the-evening higher alcohol magnificent wine is like Satan, in a really bad way. There’s nothing like a big glass of such a wine when either driving is not an issue, or when one hasn’t had any other alcohol so driving is OK. Driving is the only reason I buy very little of higher-alcohol wines I would otherwise really, really love).

Yes, I remeber the good old days when I ws at Uni and working in a hotel restaurant frequented by the business crowd at lunchtime. Just about everyone had a couple of ports or brandies at the conclusion of the meal (after a fair quota of red wine) and then ‘merrily’ drove back to work, well over the limit, but there ws precious little enforcement in those days.

That “flat” 1994 Seppelt sounds terrific. My limited experience with sparkling Shiraz is, they are very different from each other, some are not that great, ROckford Black if not leaky would be grat if one could find it in US.

George,
Probably the benchmark over time is the Seppelt. The base wine that is used is generally the very best Great Western Shiraz and it spends plenty of time on lees.
I really think as a style they need cellaring, as do still reds to show their best.
BTW, vintage is '44 not '94, hence the lack of effervescence.

Hi Kent, great notes thanks. I have been drinking my Great Western Sparkling Burgundy way to early. I hope they have updated the drinking window on this? Is it still available - a RD?

We reckon that it was purchased c 1970 on a Roseworthy excursion to Great Western. According to Bruce he paid close to $20 for it back then which was Grange territory such was its reputation.

Great eclectic line-up Kent.

I have been fortunate enough to have drunk some wonderful bottles from the Lehmann cellar. Glad the '64 Pomerol showed well.

Cheers
Jeremy

Disclaimer: We catalogued Peter and Margaret Lehmann’s Cellar and I have been involved in selling some wine from it.

Kent sorry I knew it was 44 hit the wrong key

Was that the Colin Preece Seppelt? Very special wine and rare as hens teeth, very generous contribution.

Some great old school Aussie wines there.

Damn shame about the Semillon. Cracked a 1984 Lovedale not too long ago and it was stunning. Haunted me for days.

Dave,
It was in fact Colin Preece’s creation. Interesting snippet that most likely the wine would have been a blend of vintages, despite the labelling eg 44/45. Bruce mentioned that there was one wien released that was a blend of two vintages, eight years apart.

Mike,
I have been lucky to taste a few of the Lindemans 1970 Semillon that were memorable. Somehow Semillon does much better in the Hunter compared to other districts. It never really took showed much promise in coonawarra and the Barossa offerings are quite different and don’t last like the Hunter wines.

Sorry for the thread drift,

Mike if you are after some good wines that are cheap as chips and go for the long haul in the vein of Aussie Semillons try some of the Tahbilk Marsannes (probably get them in the US) I’ve got some back as 89 and they are still drinking well.

Crazy, that stuff is cheap. I guess I should put some away. Even in its youth, I think it’s a great value. Do you think it actually improves significantly, or just gets older? I know that is very subjective, but I’m curious.

For sure, like Semillon it picks up nice toasty characteristics after about 5-10 years then it moves to a slightly madierised style after about 15+ with like an older Vouvray sweetness. Here are my notes and pics

The 89 Tahbilk was a real surprise packet. It was very similar in style to an old German Riesling, orange and caramel with a hint of sweetness, amazing how this had developed from something that is not unlike Semillon when young.