Mollydooker - I just don't get it

[H_Wallace_Jr]

@Monte Mast

I don’t drink much Aussie wine but I knew that Mollydookers usually are rated pretty well and I thought I would see what the fuss was…

My question is what am I missing on this wine? I don’t buy based on points but this wine is pretty well reviewed. (WA 91, WS 91, RR 92, even CT 89.7)

Take this as the lesson to trust no points (from any source)-- ever. Consider $20 a cheap way to find out.

[Rick_Gregory]

@H Wallace Jr

@Monte Mast

I don’t drink much Aussie wine but I knew that Mollydookers usually are rated pretty well and I thought I would see what the fuss was…

My question is what am I missing on this wine? I don’t buy based on points but this wine is pretty well reviewed. (WA 91, WS 91, RR 92, even CT 89.7)

Take this as the lesson to trust no points (from any source)-- ever. Consider $20 a cheap way to find out.

+∞

[Keith_Levenberg]

@John Morris

@Monte Mast

At least on red wines, I find that my impressions aren’t usually too far away from CT ratings on wines that there is a reasonable sample size. That’s why I was so surprised when I saw the ratings because I wouldn’t have it anywhere close.

CT, like Zagat’s, is self-selecting: People tend to rate the wines they own, like and drink. So if it’s not your style of wine (or restaurant) the ratings aren’t necessarily good predictors.

Exactly. The number of people who would find this awful may very well be greater than the number who find it outstanding, but none of the former set actually owns any to get a CT note out of.

I do remember one exception to that rule though…

[Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i]

@Keith Levenberg

I do remember one exception to that rule though…

Doesn’t he sell teeth ruining, underripe, boar nectar in the name of vinofreakism?

RT

[Bob_Hughes]

I was actually at a lunch on Friday where I had the 2006 Enchanted Path (which I believe is a high-end syrah-cab blend) and the 2006 Carnival of Love (all Syrah). While neither would be a “go-to” wine for me, I thought both were acceptable. Surprisingly enough, I’m generally not a fan of most Australian wines, but I really liked a 2004 Mitolo GAM. Although I think most of the guys at the table felt the pristine bottle of '90 Montrose stole the show.

One thing I did find interesting about Monte’s posts, though, were some of the California wines he likes. As just one example, I find Martinelli pinot noirs to be very over-the-top wines, totally un-pinot-like and basically yak-inducing. To be honest, side-by-side, I’m pretty sure I’d prefer to drink a Mollydooker.

[Monte_Mast]

Bob - I have some Martinelli zins and syrahs I like when I want a big wine but I stepped away from their pinots other than what I have already purchased. What I have in pinots is Williams Selyem, Siduri, Papapietro Perry, Failla, Lucia, Chasseur, Anthill Farms and Peay. Pinots make up 35% of my cellar and I really have a fondness for Sonoma Coast pinots.

Hardy - I agree. I’d rather make a $20 mistake than a $75 one.

Monte

[mike_pobega]

These wines are manufactured (yes, correct wording) for a certain segment of buyers. I do not believe that segment to be the Penfolds Grange set, or the DRC set. There is a segment of Yellow-Tail drinkers who ‘step up’ when the timing is right, and the marketing ploy of Mollydooker is to set the net for them, and there is a lot of them. Nothing wrong with them, but they are not you or me, people who put way too much time into this silly obsession called ‘wine’. We have taken it to such a level that are the enigma, to them.

Don’t be so worried about not getting it. Think of it as any other highly scored region that you have tasted and don’t like. Mollydookers have the trademarked Marquis Fruit Weight™ thing that just in theory, no one should ever get.
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[Jay_Miller]

@Enzo Ruffalo

I’ve tried a few of these wines, and I can only attribute the polarization to a tolerance for residual sugar (RS). Although ALL red wines have some small amount of RS, the Mollydookers are in the neighborhood of 4g/Liter, about twice what you are used to in a “dry” red wine. That would certainly explain your disorientation experience though. Just as pizza sauce has sugar, it sure isn’t the same as cherry pie filling!

I would be willing to guess that those who don’t like these wines are not big drinkers of Ports, late harvest wines, Auslese and higher RS Germans. That’s just a generalization however, because I don’t care much for wines with higher levels of RS, but I can appreciate a very good Port, Sauternes, or dessert level Riesling. That doesn’t fully explain Mollydookers though. It is helpful to remember that RS can make an inferior wine taste better to a good chunk of the population, hence the sales of millions of gallons of white zinfandel. I suspect that if any of the Mollydookers were to be fully fermented to “dry”, the quality (or lack thereof) of the grapes would be more apparent.

Nope, I like port, late harvest wines, auslese+ germans and I find the MD wines disgustingly undrinkable. That said I remember some people posting on the old board that they get better with a lot of air and put them in a blender to induce this. I have never tried the experiment.

As others have said, these are not representative of all Australian wines though they are somewhat representative of a lot of the Australian wines brought into the US. This was, I believe, a function of the hotter climate (mostly Barossa valley) riper wines being the ones that consistently got really high ratings and reviewers being (to me inexplicably) enthusiastic about them. Who can resist 90+ points at under $20? I tried a bunch of Aussies back around 15 years ago for that very reason. MD is just a logical outgrowth of this phenomenon - and there are apparently people who like them.

Thinking back to when the MDs started getting press and several showed up at tastings it’s not just the sweetness, but the way it tasted of creamed oak and had a weird texture. But then I’m a charter member of the AFWE so that reaction was only to be expected .

[John_Morris]

@Anthony Lombardi

I disagree with the comparison of Auslese in the mix as it has plenty of acid to add complexity to the sweetness.

The problem I have with these wines is that they are so over the top with extraction, wood and sugar that any charateristics of the grape become so obscured that you truly cannot distinguish cab from merlot from syrah etc. It’s a shame too as Australia produces wonderful wines, and they get lumped in with these and those who emulate the style chasing points.

+1 on all points. The R.S. is the least of it. I love German riesling.

It’s that the Mollydookers taste like they came out of bottling plant, not a winery – cherry/berry soda pop spiked with vodka, vanilla and caramel.

[John_Morris]

@mike pobega

Don’t be so worried about not getting it. Think of it as any other highly scored region that you have tasted and don’t like. Mollydookers have the trademarked Marquis Fruit Weight™ thing that just in theory, no one should ever get.
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Thanks, Mike – interesting reading, as is the page on their watering regime:

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It says there they pick two weeks later than most people.

[johnbonds]

It’s a ~$20ish hydrogen bomb of fruit. Done.

[RichSteinberg]

MD did leave me with one lasting benefit. The Molly Dooker shake. I have used it at times with some fo the fizzy experiences from Linne Calodo and others. So, to Molly Dooker, I shake my hat.

[AlexHay]

You could have paired your Mollydooker with some sourdough rolls and gotten sweetbread.

As so many others have posted, you are not missing anything. Mollydooker is not great wine.

[Tom_Mann]

I love Auslese, port, etc etc, but Mollydooker is unfortunately the poster child for everything that is wrong with Aussie wine.

Australia can make some stunning wines, but Mollydooker unfortunately is at the other spectrum. At best, the wines are sh*t.

[jcoley3]

@mike pobega

These wines are manufactured (yes, correct wording) for a certain segment of buyers.

Indeed. If the idea of wine being from a certain place means anything to you, then these wines are not for you.

There are $20 Shiraz from several Australian regions, from McLaren to Barossa to Frankland that are much more enjoyable and distinctive. Distinctive in the good way.

[johnbonds]

Makes a really great short rib reduction sauce… Your welcome.

[mike_pobega]

@johnbonds

Makes a really great short rib reduction sauce… Your welcome.

…and you’re not afraid of being around an open flame with this?

[Peter_Kleban]

@David Strange

Hello Monte,

Mollydooker wines are stupefyingly loathsome.

Cheers,
David.

[Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i]

“I have noticed that a lot of people, both in the wine industry and outside it, look for the fault in wine before
they look for the beauty in the wine, and I think that conflicts with life’s normal model. We are sort of glad
that not everyone likes our wine because we don’t make enough anyway…”

“We never set out to make blackberry concentrate that can be poured over ice cream, as some people
claim on the blogs. It was about creating as much flavour as possible.”

• Sparky Phillips, May 2008
  
  
  RT

[RichSteinberg]

No, but they do make blueberry compote.