Last Thursday night an unseasonably warm winters night saw sixty people gather at Le Goulue Restaurant in Crows Nest for the inaugural Sydney Winestar Great Cabernet Dinner. Many of the well-known identities from a number of wine forums were in attendance as well as the usual wine loving axe murders who attend these sorts of functions.

Upon arrival Bert thrust a glass of c-through Frog Bubbles into my paw and said, “here,drink this.” With that kind of subtlety, I had to try it. Humm, not bad at all I thought. Yeasty, crisp apple with some elegance, not at all over the top. I could enjoy drinking this on a quiet Sunday morning. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the wine was Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne and its better than a lot of others at a similar price level.

The first wine served with dinner was the “Mystery Wine” It was dark purple in colour with the nose showing lots of dark fruit, cassis, blackcurrant, mint and loads of oak. Tannins are smooth and are starting to integrate, the acid is crisp and there is enough deep and strong fruit buried under the pantechnicon load of tannins to ensure this wine will be stunning in another 6 years. It’s a robust full-bodied wine with very firm consistency and a harmonious level of complexity with a huge long finish. Rated as Excellent (with potential to improve) it should peak in about another six years and hold for many after that time. The wine was 1994 Penfolds Bin 707 and was received by the guests as very much a love it or hate it style.

From here on in, we were trying to match the next five wines to a list of thirteen possible options. At the end of the evening the bottles were unveiled.

The next wine had a complex soft sweet fruit forward lifted nose showing multiple dark fruits, eucalyptus and spearmint. This is the sort of wine I can sit and sniff all night. The subtle tannins are there, but are deceptive because of their silky velvety nature. The mouth filling fruit flavours are strong and concentrated but well-balanced showing plums, blackberry, and aniseed. It’s an ample weight rich wine with supple consistency, seamless structure, harmonious complexity and whilst it’s drinking perfectly now, it has enough backbone to last for a while. This is a very smart wine indeed with an obvious high calibre. I loved it and rated it as Excellent. It was unveiled as the 1996 Orlando Jacaranda Ridge.

These two wines were served with Steamed Tuna Fillet and Seared Scallops with Miso Butter – delicious.

Unfortunately at this time I was a little distracted by the lovely lady sitting next me so the notes on some of the following wines may be a bit brief. The next wine showed some class and was obviously very well constructed showing black fruit, liquorice and chocolate. It’s a full-bodied wine that just glided down my throat and was absolutely perfect with the Duck Confit and Cassis Sauce. Rated as Excellent, it was unveiled to be the 1996 Tahbilk Reserve Cabernet. It was a toss up between this wine and the Jacaranda for my wine of the night.

The other wine in this bracket was the 99 Moss Wood Cabernet and many thought it was the wine of the night. Unfortunately the dreaded TCA struck and between the corked bottle and a comedy of errors by the staff who were incapable of finding the back up bottle, I didn’t get to try it. (sad smiley)

The first wine of the next bracket had a closed nose but it still showed a huge intense inky iodine aniseed black fruity character. The tannins were velvety and the intense mouth filling flavours of liquorice, blackcurrant and plums with a mint finish were monolithic and more Shiraz like than Cabernet in their character. The wine has a velvety, rich consistency, a seamless structure and an agreeable level of complexity. However a wine this monolithic with only an agreeable level of complexity results in a wine that seems simple and a characture of a wine. The wine seems to have been built to please a certain US critic, stand out in a show line up and please crowds with more money than sense. Rated as Highly Recommended, my feelings were confirmed when it was unveiled as 1998 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet, this was my least enjoyable wine of the night.

The final wine of the night had a smooth silky full-bodied nose showing rich fruit and similar to the previous wine, but not as big. The wine was well made and well constructed with a long finish that was much better balanced than the previous wine. The problem was the Blass Black Label had bombarded my palate into submission and whilst I knew I was drinking a very good wine, my sensed had been dulled. I rated this wine as Excellent and was surprised when it was unveiled as 1998 Balnaves The Talley. At the Canberra dinner, the Tally was more enjoyable and interesting; once again confirming the hit the wine had taken by being served after the Blass Black Label.

Accompanying the final two reds was either Grain Fed Farmed Buggs Bunny with Madeira Sauce or Tian Of Lamb Loin with Provencal Vegetables Olives and Rosemary Jus. The food was scrumptious. For desert the choice was Apple Tart with Grand Marnier Ice Cream or a Selection of Cheese. Campbells Liquid Gold Tokay was the perfect accompaniment to the final course. The two top up wines were the 99 St Hugo and the 99 Katnook, both very good wines for the price but I prefer the St Hugo (Highly Recommended.)

About an hour after Cinderella’s coach turns back into a pumpkin, one Starboy and a couple of ugly mates were seen heading in the direction of a late night pub for a quick and quiet cleansing ale. And if you believe they were quiet or quick, call your local GP for a reality check.

Cheers

Ric ©

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2003