Past Articles - 2004
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008
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Bigots Bowral Bastardy Every few months the two red bigots get together for a
ritual celebration of the dark arts of red bigotry. Naturally, much wine is
sacrificed and food consumed in order to celebrate the meeting properly. On
this occasion, it was my turn to play host and Andrea and Brian arrived at
Chateau Doggy Farm at about 3.30 pm. As much as I like seeing Brian and Andrea, I think my three
dogs are substantially more thrilled to see them than I am. Since Brian and
Andrea have been dog-less (as distinct from legless which you will read about
later), they enjoy getting their “dog fix” with my family. In return, my three
love the attention and treats (like smoked salmon) that they have no chance
from suckering from me. The first order of business after unpacking their car was
the ritual exchange of things vinous. We share many case purchases of wine and
so the quarterly “settling up” was the first official agenda item. In my car,
fresh from my cellar was Brian’s loot. Twelve six packs in all and all the
bastard had for me was 18 bottles and any rational person would think that he
was going to owe me a fortune but not being monetaristic types, we left the
high finances till later. As it was a very pleasant cool autumn afternoon we sat on
the deck for about an hour and discussed “secret red bigots business” not even
realising that Andrea had secreted herself away inside with a good book.
Finally, she graced us with her presence, and we tried to solve some of the
problems of the world but having only coffee to drink it was a difficult task. We have a mutual friend, Meta who has now gone back to live
in Thailand and when mutual friends of Brian and Andrea went over recently, Meta was kind enough
to send me back a couple of shirts as a gift. I know I have lost weight, but as
the picture shows, I must have been very fat when Meta lived in Oz. Speaking of pictures, Brian decided that the home page of www.torbwine.com needed a new photo of me so
every five minutes there was a camera stuck in my face. It turned out that the
very first one taken was the best and it has now been uploaded. As the witching hour approached, we had a quick change for
dinner and I pulled out a bottle of Seppelt 1990
Show Sparkling Shiraz from
the fridge. My very good friend Lynne must have been waiting outside in her car
and heard the fridge open as no sooner than had I poured the wine than she
walked in, picked up my glass before I could even try it and sat down in my
seat. The wine is inky black/purple but only medium weight. It is elegant and
has perfect balance with a good glycerol mouth feel. It is sweet, but not
overly so and shows cassis, milk chocolate and a touch of white pepper. Incredibly
easy to drink, its possibly because the wine fades a bit quickly on the finish. Not a great
example of this marque, but it is rated as Highly Recommended and was a good way
to start the formal festivities. ......With
that colour top Lynne ..........
must be a red bigot We were shown to our seats and the waitress, who was
obviously new, was very nervous and tripped over the words of the daily specials
and apologised profusely. Andrea, who had consumed two glasses of fizzy red, as
quick as a flash said, “Don’t worry, we have been drinking and have slurred
hearing.” Starters averaged $15, main courses $30-35 and desserts about
$12. Naturally, we arrived well prepared with our own Riedel
glasses and decanted wines. Now you may wonder why this story is titled, “Bigots
Bowral Bastardy” and this is where the answer comes in. Brian must have spent every
waking hour for weeks going through his cellar listing working out what obscure
wines he would bring to the dinner and how to throw me in the options game.
Tonight, success was his, as he turned out to be almost a perfect bastard, in
fact the only reason I cannot call him a perfect bastard, is because none of us
is perfect. Wine One was Brian’s
and here is my tasting note. It seemed like a well-aged bottle, guessing blind
I would have thought late 1980’s. The bouquet opened up nicely, when I sniffed
it straight after it was decanted, it was all oak and we were both worried
about the fruit but with a few hours of air it came up well. It showed earthy
mushroom characters, well-integrated oak and resolved tannin. Deceptively
subtle on the uptake, the wine built as it travelled across the palate and very
slowly increased in weight and then lingered for ages. Initially flavours were
dark berry fruit, chocolate, aniseed, five spices and a touch of plum. It also
exhibited a good acid backbone and was ample weight. At that point, blind, I
would have guessed a Victorian Shiraz. Then it was time to play the options game. First choice was
90, 91 or 94 and Brian is already showing his degree in bastardry. I went for
90 and it was a 91! One wrong. Next choice was Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot blend, or Shiraz and I guessed Shiraz. Brian, never being one to let the
rules get in the way checked the bottle and pronounced it was a Cabernet
Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Blend. At this point, I am being to wonder about his
parentage and if he has secretly been taking lessons in bastardy the last time
he was with our mate Meta, in Thailand. Meta did his PhD in Canberra; in theory,
it was in a Defence subject but I think it was in wine bastardry. Meta is the
current world champion at wine option bastardry. The next option was Victoria,
SA or WA, I went for Victoria, and got it wrong again, it was WA. The wine was
unveiled as Xanadu 1991 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
As the wine opened further the leafiness’ normally associated with a Cabernet
came up as did some cigar box characters. The wine was technically excellent,
clean and rated as Excellent. For a starter both the bigots had quail, now there is a
surprise – not, Lynne had a ravioli of some sort with tomato consommé and
Andrea had the squid/calamari, all plates were perfect. After tasting the tomato consommé Andrea
though was so good, she poured some that Lynne didn't want into a wine glass and it looked just like
white wine. I have heard of the expression “anything but chardonnay” but this is
taking it to a new height! Time for the second wine,
which was my blind presentation. The group provided the input for the tasting
note. Initially when the wine was opened, Brian noticed aldehyde characters but
luckily, this blew off as after the wine was double decanted back into the
original bottle. Lifted mulberry/plum fruit with coffee oak dominated the
bouquet. The wine was medium weight, seemed to be fruit driven without a lot of
tannin but still had plenty of acid and had reasonable persistence. OK but not
great, the palate followed the bouquet. Rated as Highly
Recommended, the bottle was almost half-full at the end of the night. My options were 1993, 1995 or 1997. Brian guessed 1997 and
it was a 95 so I was off to a good start at getting even. However, the bastard
has a trick or three up his sleeve. Next option was Victoria, SA or WA and damn,
Brian gets it right with Victoria. Next option was Shiraz or a Shiraz blend and
Brian scores another direct hit with Shiraz. The final option was Great Western,
Bendigo or Heathcote and the bastard scores a knockout blow with Great
Western. It was a Mount Langi 1995 Ghiran Shiraz. We had just enough time to try the third wine, which was my
other bottle before the main course arrived. By this stage of the proceedings,
the notes, naturally enough were becoming briefer as we were more concerned
with enjoying ourselves than taking the good plonk too seriously. Brian said, “in
the small tasting glass when we tried it before we left, it reminded me of a
Barossa Shiraz but now its in the big glass I don’t know.” I just loved that
comment and had to keep the smirk off my dial. Brian then went on to summarise
the wine as follows, “heap of oak, spicy with chocolate nose. Very well
balanced but not a huge amount of tannins; in fact better balanced than the
previous wines. Fruit driven with a touch of spice and savoury, rated as
Excellent.” Andrea summed it up well when she said “yummy.” The options were French, American or a blend of oak. Brian
guessed combination but it was French. Next option was Shiraz, Cabernet or
blend and Brian got that one correct with Shiraz. State was next and the
options were Victoria, SA or WA and Brian went for WA but it was SA. The final
option was region, Clare, Coonawarra or Barossa and Brian went for Clare. The wine was a Penfolds 1997 RWT Shiraz
from the Barossa. Now what was Brian’s original statement? “It reminds me of a
Barossa Shiraz!” Very nice wine but way overpriced and whilst it is drinking
well now and should hold for ages, I doubt it will improve. The acid in the Langi was a very good match with the Duck
Confit, which was cooked to perfection. Naturally, both the bigots had duck; it
goes really well with real reds, who needs Pinot! Andrea had smoked “rack off”
lamb as well as ordering a side dish of wild mushrooms, which I wanted to try
but by the time, I got around to asking, they were all gone. The lamb must have
been tasty judging by the collection of picked clean bones and the smile of
Andrea’s face. Lynne had a plate of mixed vegies which she said was good but as
it is healthy food, who cares. When the table had been cleared, it was time for the biggest
decision of the evening, dessert or cheese, red or sticky. The table was split
down the middle with the girls going for the sweet end of the spectrum having
made the decision to share a Lime Cream Brulee and a Lemon and Berry Millefeux.
The bigots split a cheese plate, which had Stilton, Jindi Triple Cream and a
Sheep Milk Cheese. It came with a wonderful pureed fig jam. With the mix of choices, there was no option but to open a
Liqueur Tokay and another red. The sticky was a
Morris Cellar Door Reserve and no tasting note was made as
I recently did one in my Victorian Tour Trek. The red was Brian’s second
bottle, which was presented blind. Normally we bring older mature bottles but
once again, Brian wanted to prove his mastery of the art of bastardry with this
wine. One sip and I said, “2001 Victorian Durif.” Judging by the
expression on Brian’s face, not a bad guess, but close does not win the cigar!
The tasting note is as follows. The aroma was very unusual with distinct baby
poo, in fact sh*t loads of it initially, (if you will pardon a bad pun),
it was much less evident after about 20 minutes in the glass; as well as
aromatic dark fruit and vanilla oak. On the palate, the wine is big, in the
take no prisoners style, with abundant drying tannins and lots of woody
chocolate oak. The palate is much better than the stench suggests with the
massive fruit providing plum, chocolate, more plum and menthol. After my guess,
there were not too many options left but it was a Shiraz and not a Durif. Brian
was easy on me after the dismal performance with his last wine. It was unveiled
as a Shadowfax 2001 One Eye Shiraz and
was rated as a smelly baby with room to grow, (Highly Recommended and should
improve). During the course of the dinner, one of the the restaurant owners took a
great interest in our wines and we let him sample a small glass of each wine.
He seemed to enjoy a good drop and appreciated the chance to taste the wines. Later in the evening, as I headed to the gents, I ran into
him and he told the following story. “Tonight there was a guy at another table
that had a bottle of 1976 Alsace something or other that he said was very
special. Apparently, there have only been about six vintages since then when
the conditions have been good enough to make this wine. Guess what? When I
stuck the corkscrew into the bottle the cork popped right into the wine, but
when it was tasted, it wasn’t even corked!” It is a bit of a worry when the owner of a quality restaurant
does not understand the difference between oxidised wine and
wine that is affected by TCA. The bill was reasonable but one thing I did notice. In
almost every situation where you let the owner try your various bottles of high
quality wine, they normally either waive the corkage charge or reduce it. Not
in this case. We paid the bill and Brian had $8 in shrapnel that he gave me.
The $8 was the total difference in cost been the 72 bottles I had for him and
the 18 he gave me. You can draw your own conclusions about quality versus
quantity, but the $8 does not tell the whole story of the intricate transactions
being settled. A top night was had by all and Lynne even volunteered to
drive us home even though it was 20k in the wrong direction. After a brief
chat, it was off to bed. Next morning we were all up bright and early. Even though I
am a foundation member of Athletics Anonymous, (whenever I have the desire to
take exercise I call up a fellow member who comes over and we drink wine till
the desire to exercise passes), Brian always likes an early morning walk before
breakfast. On Sunday morning, when I looked out the window, I was thrilled to
see all the misty fog hanging about which would ensure we would be drenched if
we ventured outdoors. Naturally, to Brian, I expressed my complete
disappointment at not being able to go for a long walk, I am sure he believed
me! In 2000, I tried a bottle of c-though Oz bubbles that was
steely dry, very much in the Blanc-de-Blanc style and the wine appealed to me.
I must have been ill at the time as I bought a six-pack of Cleveland 1996 Sparkling Brut. When I opened it I
thought that if I didn’t enjoy it, a bit of OJ may improve it. The wine was fine;
it had improved exactly as expected. The mousse was very fine; it was yeasty,
bready, minerally and had subtle perfume. Nothing wrong with it at all; but I just
didn’t like it (too much chardonnay character) and the OJ only made it worse. So it was used as drain cleaner
and we opened a bottle of “fish on wheels” aka "Billycart" Salmon. Always a
terrific wine, it was perfect for the fruit salad and then the bagels with
smoked salmon. After a good strong coffee, it was time to close this
“meeting” and start thinking about the wines I would take to the next one. Now
what do I have in the cellar that will match his bastardy? Mutter mutter, must
get the cogs turning! Copyright © Ric Einstein 2004 |
It was
then off to