SLONYC 2- Shiraz that don't suck. notes and recollections.

WINE TALK
1

Last nite, the SLONYCers were at it again. This time with the theme of ‘Shiraz that do not suck’.
We succeeded. All in all a very great lineup with something for everyone. The oldest wine of the group, and the first poured (1992 Penfolds Grange) was the high water mark of the night. An early WOTN choice, it had a unanimous wine of the flight scoring. I have never seen that before. Its what a First Growth, no matter from where, can only wish and hope to be.

As usual it’s not necessarily the wines, but the people at these events that make the night. But let’s be honest with each other, having great wines surely helps.

It was great seeing the group again. Some regulars and some newly regular. The food was good, and I remember commenting about the balsamic reduction on my steak something along the lines of ‘Only at a Shiraz tasting can one pull balsamic reduction off”. The staff of Zoe was as attentive as usual. Each glass was marked and with 9 glasses per guest, it’s always nice to be able to revisit each wine during the night.

Thank you to everyone for being a part. I had a great time. The dump bucket helped to guarantee that, although not much was dumped.

1992 Penfolds Grange. Crumbly cork. Still dark with nary a inkling of age. A nose of flower petals, lavender and calla-lilies which only got better as this sat in my glass for an hour plus. The palate had a wonderful depth of fruits: some black cherry, creme de cassis, and red plum. There was a lilty graphite note which was meshed beautifully with some lavender, tar, and earth, good earth that is. An extremely elegant, delicate and lovely wine with super balance and class. A minute plus on the back. This came out of the gate a winner and never fell behind. Wow. WOTF & WOTN. 95

2003 Mitolo GAM. This started with a candied nose, with blackberries and pomegranate. Great balance, nice mid weight mouth feel with dark cherries wrapped in semi sweet chocolate & some dark plums. There was a note of oregano as this sat in the glass. A very pretty well structured Shiraz with a hint of black pepper. Wonderfully resolved tannins. 90

2000 Elderton Command. A very nice dark color with some pretty dark fruits of blackberry, black cherry, black plums and blueberry pie. A little oak was detectable. This had a great mouthfeel which as it sat in the glass, and tasted against the Mitolo, seems a bit simple, but still enjoyable, and I have always found these consistent with delivering the Shiraz goods. 89

The Blind wine was a 2003 Cayuse, I think….
This was surely out of its ‘continental’ bearings, and screamed California or Washington. I always enjoy these, and this may have shown better in SLONYC 1. Thanks Mark for bringing this second bottle for the group.

2002 Shirvington. I liked this out of the gate, but I have always been known as a bit of a contrarian. This had some very intense elements that shot from the glass. Some blueberries, some black cherries, some pomegranate. As it sat in my glass, it did become noticeably hotter. It started nicely balanced and crashed quickly. Not the groups favorite, and some even hated it, but hate is such a bad word… 87

2002 DeLille Cellars Syrah Doyenne. A mistake bring, but interestingly enough, it fit the octagonal hole more than the other Washington State wine. Nice deep red fruit profile and an interesting graphite/sulphur note which I actually think added to the overall feel of this mid-weight, elegant, and very pretty wine. Some vanilla, some black cherries, and a hint of warm blueberry cobbler. A very strong finish makes this a winner. 90

2003 Ox. Hmmm. Ox huh? This small producer really shined last big last night. This was the nights mind bender to me. It had a very pure and clean style that was a nice welcome in this night’s line-up. A dark fruit profile of cassis, blackberry, super black plum, tar, earth, leather, and blueberry. The midpalate was like a secondary wall of all the same, just intensified. Wow. I loved how this traveled across the spectrum of the tongue. A nicely structured and masculine wine with tons of backbone and weight, but yet balanced and satisfying. Say it again, Ox. The groups WOTF-- Mine too. 93

2004 Dead Arm, 2004 Amon Ra, and 2006 Mollydooker Velvet Glove. This whole flight seems similar to me in the sense of over extraction and cloying sweetness. The Molly stood out from this group for me. It had an intense bruised blue fruit profile that seemed to sit above the sweetness. A nice big mouth feel with some chewy tannins and pure acid balance. It was the WOTF….for me. Only me.

The Amon Ra was the groups WOTF.

2

Very nice notes Mr. Pobega. Impressive service, sounds like it, from the Zoë staff.

3

Thanks once again Mike for putting this together. Zoe’s certainly does a bang-up job on the wine service. A good group of folks who will next be tackling Northern Rhone?

The first flight was uncanny in that not only was the top wine unanimous, but we hit near unanimity on the entire flight! Except for one dissenter who flipped the Mitolo and and Elderton, we all had it Grange, Mitolo, Elderton.

Hate may be a strong word, but the Shirvington went straight to the dump bucket after a quick taste. Only wine to do that last night for me.

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The voting was pretty straight forward, we awarded 4 points for first place, 2 points for second place, 1 point for third place. Number of first place votes in parentheses…

#1 1992 Grange 25 points (5)
#2 2003 Mitolo GAM 3 points
#3 2000 Elderton Command 0 points
#4 2002 Shirvington Shiraz 2 points
#5 2002 De Lille Doyenne 0 points
#6 2003 Ox Shiraz 10 points
#7 2004 Dead Arm 7 points (1)
#8 2004 Amon Ra 5 points (1)
#9 2006 Mollydooker Velvet Glove 4 points (1)

My notes to follow.

5

SLONYC 1 was California Syrah, SLONYC 2 featured Australian Shiraz…SLONYC 3…who knows…

Dinner at Zoe last night featuring 8 wine enthusiasts (Brent had to bail).

Zoe provides great service for wine dinners. The steak I ordered was excellent and very flavorful. The scallops were like jelly, and needed to be seared more to enjoy. A shame. Cheryl, sitting next to me felt the same way. My vanilla panna cotta for dessert happened to be excellent.

Pobega did a great job driving the bus on this one, as usual. We were just missing a white wine starter and/or dessert wine. I should have contributed. Oh well…onto the wines that we did taste…

#1 1992 Penfold’s Grange…Mike donated well. This garnered 5 first place votes and appeared on everyone’s ballot. I am not sure how much, if any Cabernet, was in 1992 Grange, but it tasted a lot like one. This smooth, clean, and very youthful, given its age. Penfold’s seems to have mastered the recipe on this one, and I loved it!

#2 2003 Mitolo Shiraz G.A.M…This was sweet and jammy. More than a mouthfeel, and not really for me.

#3 2000 Elderton Command…I think I was the dissenter on this wine, as I did enjoy it, at least more than the Mitolo. Even going to back to it at the end of the night, I liked it. Very minty nose, but the finish had a slight metallic edge initially. It did eventually blow off.

Blind wine: 2003 Cayuse Syrah en Cerise…I guessed 2003 Sonoma Syrah, so I was not too far off, I think. Like most Cayuse that I try, I did not care for this wine. Cherry syrup on the nose, a little lean on the finish…I do not think anyone really enjoyed this. Even Pobega poo pooed it.

#4 2002 Shirvington Shiraz…In a word…AWFUL…completely undrinkable crap…I cannot wait to see Parker retry this 99 pointer at the 10 year mark. What a joke!

#5 2002 De Lille Syrah Doyenne…wrong btl pulled from a cellar resulted in this wine at the tasting. Not nearly as good as 2001 Doyenne at SLONYC 1. A bit too much alcohol and quite uninteresting.

#6 2003 Ox Shiraz…my contribution…what an awesome wine. Dbl decanted 3 hours before serving, should have done it for 6 hours. A baby at the table, this wine had everything going for it. A touch of alcohol initially, that blows off with time. Definitely competed with the Grange, for me, for first place.

#7 2004 Dead Arm Shiraz…3 of us enjoyed this wine, the rest of thr group, not so much, it would appear. Jay Miller says to cellar this for 20 years. This wine tasted very good last night. 20 years will not do it any favors. It was very big and structured, but with gobs of fruit. Good pairing for my steak.

#8 2004 Amon Ra Shiraz…Initially I hated this wine, but over time, it got much better. Once the alcohol calmed, it became a decent wine. Miller says this will hold for 10 more years, but the 2006 should be held for 30 more years…interesting.

#9 2006 Mollydooker Velvet Glove…clearly the worst QPR in the group. I found this wine all over the place and completely out of balance. Lots of cough syrup in my mouth. Miller says hold it for 30 moe years. Maybe it will come together at that time, but at $200/btl, I am not finding out on my dime.

There seemed to be some divide in the group. Those that really enjoyed the Grange/Ox and those that enjoyed some other wines.

The Shirvington and Mollydooker, two Sparky Marquis wines, showed a particular style that is very polarizing. While I did not really enjoy the MD 20/20, if it becomes anything like the Shirvington 2002 in 5 years, I will not be surprised. These wines are not for the shy folk.

Interestingly enough, when I got home, my wife said I wreaked of alcohol and noted that it was the first time in 9 years, that she had every thought I wreaked of alcohol after going to a wine dinner. I told her that these were Aussie Shiraz, high octane stuff, and that explained it…maybe…

6

Nice notes, Dan.

7

Someone has to give some love to the Aussies!

The highlight of the evening was arriving late and having to sit next to Cheryl.

We had never met, but she was a good sport, given my antics at the meal. At one point, she excused herself, and I asked if she called Monkton to report me. Then I suggested that they ban me again!

8

Sorry to bail last minute. Multiple crises yesterday. My friend’s pug is OK, grandma’s eyes are fine and dad is still in bed with the flu.

9

Thank you for the update, Brent.

All in good fun.

Glad to know you are okay.

10

So let me get this straight…the wine YOU brought was your WOTN? Hmmmmm, where have I seen that before? newhere

11

Uh, no, jackass.

If you look, Ox received no first place votes.

FAIL!

I do believe that Cheryl voted MD her #1 and brought it, but someone else may have to confirm that.

Pobega did same with Grange.

12

Dan, according to my weak but hopefully accurate tallying
Cheryl voted Grange, Delille, and Amon Ra.

I voted WOTN,WOTF and WOTW, and yes, I owned it.
I’m as old as dust here. [basic-smile.gif]

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Uhhhh, ok “Uncle Dan”. Yeah, my bad…doesn’t sound like the Ox was at the top of your list. [rofl.gif]

14

Dan, interestingly, I checked the penfolds site and all I see is Shiraz as the grape variety listed, unless ‘proprietary’ really means proprietary.

http://www.penfolds.com/library/tasting/grange1992.pdf

15

In two weeks I will flip flop and Shirvington will be my top wine! [stirthepothal.gif]

16

90% Shiraz and 10% Cabernet
Kalimna Vineyard (Barossa Valley), Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale Blend.

17

Makes more sense. Thanks, John.
Source?

18

Thanks, John.

Mama didn’t raise no fool…sort of.

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The Grange Guide 2009. Its Free!

20

Price must be factored into the cost of the 2004 Grange!