High-end australian wine is so easy to bash. Then again it is wine I
rarely drink. So when I received an invitation for a tasting of Penfolds top wines I said to Caroline
over dinner that we should go. She gave me that look and said “no we’re not
going”. But I kept on saying it was important to have a referance for wines and
that we should go with an open mind.
So we did. And
I really tried to go with an open mind. The tasting was conducted by one of the
wine-makers from Penfolds (sorry the name escapes me) that kept on annoyingly
contradicting himself. Like first telling us that vintages
did not matter in
Koonunga Hill Chardonnay 2003
The first
of two whites we tasted. Both chardonnay. This had a
yellow, slightly greenish, colour. The nose showed a good dose of oak and some
citrusy hints. Full-bodied in the mouth with a fat entrance
of simple ripe fruit with hints of oaky butter and plastic. The middle
is hollow and the finish has good acids with lemony hints in the finish. No
depth, too ripe and should have seen less oak.
Yattarna Chardonnay 2000
Lightly golden colour, still with some greenish reflections. Nose has oak (more expensive type),
butter and some tropical fruit. Powerful and fat in the
mouth. Good dose of oak in this one too, but the components
in this wine balances better. Good concentration of fruit and better
integrated acids. A decent and oaky chardonnay that lacks any
depth.
Koonunga Hill
Dark red colour. Jammy nose with hints of eucalyptus and some herbs.
Powerful and soft in the mouth. Simple
jammy fruit. Not much tannins. Forget it.
Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 1998
Dark red colour. A touch more towards brick. More
intence nose. Some more eucalytus than the previous
wine, still with that jammy feel. Full-bodied in the
mouth. Much fruit. Jammy
fruit with a highly unpleasent warm rubbery finish. A
little more structure.
Bin 389 Cabernet
Dark
colour, slightly less than the previous. The nose shows much cab-notes,
slightly on the green herbacious side with a touch of blackcurrant. Full-bodied
and a much better balanced wine made from decently ripe berries. This wine
shows a lot of it’s cabernet-flavours right now and
some more tannins in the back. Quite drinkable wine.
St.Henri Shiraz 2000
This is
Penfolds top wine without oak. And a nice break from all the
oakiness. But this highly fruity wine can not hide Penfolds style of
using overripe fruit. Fruity and soft wine and again lacking
any depth. Lightly tannic. Buy a modest Barbera
d’Alba instead.
Dark colour. Nose has oak and some eucalyptus. Powerful and oaky,
one-dimensional and soft wine. A waste.
Magill Estate Shiraz 2001
Dark colour. Oaky nose with some eucalyptus and dark berries.
Powerful and slightly better balance than most of the stuff this night, with
some dark berried notes, nice acids and some tannins in the back. One of the better efforts of the day.
Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
The darkest and tightest colour of the night. Oaky nose with
hints of dill, light blackcurrant and eucalyptus. Powerful
and very oaky wine in the mouth. Some dark berries in the fruit. Low acids and the most tannic wine of the night. Also the most overoaked. A waste.
Grange 1998
Dark colour. Nose has oak, jam and some nice perfumed high fruity tones. A bit port-like in the mouth and very noticable sweetness.
Some liquorice and dark berries and a tad too much oak. Some
nice floral hints. Medium acids and some tannins
in the back. A bit too sweet style for my taste, but shows a nice depth. A good wine for the style.
It was not
until later that I found the prices of all these wines. I must say someone is
having some big laughs downunder making people pay those prices. None of these
wines are worth their prices or are even close. Well at least I now have a
referance to go on bashing these wines.