It’s going very well with Tostitos chips, medium salsa and nacho cheese. Holding its own and even complimentary while showing its youthful tannins.
I confess…… I bought a couple of cases of Kaleske and Greenock Creek shiraz in vintages 2002-2004
At Christmas dinner I served a 2002 Greenock Creek Abricot Block in order to serve an impressive, but not too “good” wine for the non-winos attending. But it was far from a disjointed mess.
This wines was balanced with soft tannins and a very fine acidity(!!!), despite the full bodied texture. Yes it was lovely with not too much alcohol on the palate. A far better wine than the one I remembered tasting at release, but still in its youth
Looking forward to test the rest of these Barossa wines in the coming many years
/Claus
2003 Barossa Old Vine Shiraz: ABV 14.5. Unable to describe the nose due to perfume and scents at the store today. Blackberry, smoke and earth on the palate with plenty of tannins on the first sip and a 30 second finish. Lotsa life and bottle time left on this youthful wine. At 10 minutes open, there is little change beyond some softening of the tannins. Wow.
Interested to receive a report on the 99 Penley …99 an under rated vintage in Coonawarra. I have found 99 Bowen Shiraz, Hollick Ravenswood CS and Majella Malleea to be drinking well recently.
How do the original price tags correlate to current offering market prices?
Brian,
Those still available in the US are all over the board. One higher, one lower, some the same.
99 Penley Estate Coonawara Cabernet Sauvignon Phoenix. 13.5 ABV. Carrie says there’s a lot on the nose but I get just a little red fruits. Popped and poured, there is no bricking and the wine is opaque garnet. Black fruits, possibly currants if I knew what they tasted like, with some kitchen spice. Tannins are resolved and fruit, though not over powering, dominates the palate and the finish is lengthy. Both Carrie and I are suffering palate fatigue and lack of sleep from a busy night last night and can’t agree on our impressions of the wine. I think it is right in its drinking window with expressive fruit, adequate acidity and a saturated finish.
I happened upon the Penley Phoenix as a well priced value wine that (1) represents a solid wine list choice particularly when the wine list wasn’t that great, and (2) was crowd pleaser especially for those who aren’t deep into wine buying/cellaring. I 'd consider buying it in quantities for entertaining a large group of non-wine snobs, for instance.
2003 Kangarilla Road McLaren Zinfandel. 15.5 ABV and a prune juice candidate. Spongy cork that is extracted in two pieces with minimal fragments left in the bottle. The Haley’s corker will keep them out of our glasses. Even though it’s been standing upright for two days, the wine is opaque purple indicating mobile sediment. The nose is dark fruit and spice. First sip is rich black fruit, black pepper and some other spice close to briar like. What a surprise. Soft tannins. Carrie says Chambord like fruit. I get darker fruit but we agree it tastes like a top tier Cali Zin with some age on it. Beautiful finish of 30 plus seconds. If it means anything, the back-up Carlisle Zin will not be opened. The high alcohol is gone, integrated or invisible. If there is any left, it will accompany Carrie’s hot dog stuffed corn bread with chili and cheese.
Now there’s a wine pairing made in heaven, corn dogs and Zinfandel!
The Carlisle will go with Carrie’s fresh garlic and fresh grated parmigiana pasta, tonight. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Randy
Thanks Mate, you inspired me to open a bottle of the 2002 Massena Eleventh Hour Barossa Valley Shiraz last night and it was really lovely, maturing nicely and a great deal of pleasure with plenty left in the tank YUM
Big Hugs to Carrie too
MT
I encourage you to try the 05 Clarendon Hills Blewitt Springs and Hickinbothom. You can find this stuff for around $25. I bought a case and it’s delicious!
Thanks for the note, Micheal. Time to break a couple of these out of hiding
This is nice to read, as I went after several oldsters on the recent Heritage Auctions online events (shameless plug for Poppy, but no affiliation, blah blah).
At last night’s auction I ended up with a case of RBJ Vintners’ 1999 Theologicum for less than $6/bottle.
Last month I pulled in 5 of the 2000 Two Hands Padthaways and 5 of the 1997 Kay Brothers Amery Cabs, for $16/bottle. I have opened one of each and they are quite fine, easily worth $20 (!).
Two months ago it was 2003 Massena Eleventh Hour, 2002 Glen Eldon Dry Bore Shiraz, and 2003 Mr. Riggs Shiraz/Viognier, at $14/bottle. Winners all, at least for my palate, although each quite different. I suspect there will be some outliers, but that’s the joy of older wines and auctions.
You get the picture.
2001 Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Blewitt Springs (Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Clarendon)
Night one decanted and jumped right in. Slightly sweet cherry and rhubarb on nose and palate and that was about it. Not horrible but nothing to write home about. Tried again on night 2 and 3. Didn’t want a second glass on any of these nights in fact was hard to finish first. Bad bottle? Not sure but I have 1 more in cellar.
Loved this wine back in 2006 but this bottle didn’t have much to offer. I am assuming it was an off bottle and will drink my last one soon to confirm.
Michael - LOVE Massena wines The Eleventh Hour and The Moonlight Run!!! Fairly rare here in the US, though. I’ve only had the ’05, ’06, ’08 and ’09 TEH, how does the ’02 compare?
Massena’s wines actually spiked my interest in Rhone wines: CdR, CdP, Hermitage &c. So I went (am going) from New World to Old!
I had some correspondence with Jaysen Collins, one of the Massena winemakers along with Dan Standish, and he said that they style their wines to peak at 5-6 years of age, but I am finding that the drink well fairly young (the ’09) but the ’05 was just superb, vibrant and alive with spice and grip so they seem to improve with some age as well. I have trouble keeping my hands off of them to let them age!
It is amazing to me that they can make wine of that quality and that I can buy it at $35 US all the way across the big pond. Bravo!
Mark,
I am sorry I no help on recent vintages of Massena, I only bought the 2002 and 2003 vintages to see how they would age. I have much preferred the 2002 to the 2003’s. It’s great that you’re enjoying the recent vintages. I was in a bottle shop yesterday and saw they are making Tannat,Durif and Primitivo.
MT
I would have picked this wine as age-able. We have found our palates have changed but also run into some off bottles. I’d be real curious to hear how that last bottle is.
We opened a 2003 Greenock Creek Cabernet for some winery owners last week and didn’t serve it. Couldn’t say it was a bad bottle, but the flavors were so uncharacteristic of Cabernet and so far a field from the wines they had already tried, we just put it aside and poured it out later.