Cellar thinning continues as the cellar in the new house is completed. Took a couple of friends out to dinner last night who dig these types of wines and thought they would match well enough with cuisine- all meat, all the time. They did the trick.
Clos Erasmus Laurel 2005:
Violets, smoke, cedar and plums jump out of the glass right off the bat. As the wine evolves, notes of black cherry, black currants, kirsch, road tar and vanilla extract can be found. This is a big wine but it has certainly calmed down a lot since release. Very much electric and expressive and fun to drink. 92 points
Greenock Creek Shiraz Roennfeldt Road 2001:
Probably should have decanted this before we left for dinner but I thought it would be enough to do it there. Wrong. There is no doubt that this (really “these” meaning Greenock Creek wines in general) is a well made wine. However, the wine is simply massive. Yes, in addition to being impressively endowed, the wine does have some alcohol and part of the reason you open early is allow the wine to “relax”, right? Well, let’s just say user error. But on to the note. Blue and black fruit incredibly packed together, one on top of the other in a perfect pattern- think of tiles that tesselate- all of this fruit dotted with ground pepper, shaved white truffles, smoke, crushed pencil lead, torn violets and damp earth. A finish that lasts nearly a minute. Just a beast. But, to borrow another analogy, if you ever watch Man VS Food on the Travel Channel, you know that Adam sometimes loses. And, where he says: Food defeated Man on this night. For me it was Wine that defeated Man on Saturday night! But I will return to fight another day. 91 points