Random Thoughts and Comments – January 04

For some time I have been jotting down short ideas and comments, each of which in and of itself would not make a complete article so I have decided to combine then together once in awhile to form a conglomerate article.

First topic - BYO 

Like most wine lovers I prefer to BYO and don’t mind paying a reasonable corkage charge to do so but unfortunately many restaurants have a no BYO policy and even some that do allow BYO on some nights of the week don’t allow it on a Friday or Saturday. So how do you get around it?

Recently I faced this problem when I tried to book a table for Valentines night at a prestige Sydney restaurant. I was informed that it was a fixed price degustation menu (no problem) but there would be no BYO that night; now that was a problem. I was planning on having dinner with two ugly American plonk importers (as well as my good friend Marion) and wanted to bring some older wines to impress said septics who would be thoroughly sick of tasting barrel samples and young wines by the time I saw them on this trip. I declined to make a booking and rang back the next night and asked to speak to the manager.

I told him that I fully understand the no BYO requirement on a night such as this but I was not adverse to paying a reasonable corkage charge (to cover loss of profit) and would be prepared to drop the wine off earlier in the day so no one would be aware that we had bent the rules and brought our own. The manager was happy to oblige. This is not the first time I have managed to get round the no BYO policy, its easy to do if you put in the effort, empathise with their situation and ask the question nicely.

So if you are faced with a no BYO situation, its worth speaking to the manager. Another good reason is to explain that it is an ‘occasion’ and you wish to bring an extra special bottle (or two) of wine and are prepared to pay a higher than normal corkage charge. Many will be happy to cooperate and I don’t know about you but I would gladly pay $8 a bottle or $10 a head to be able to drink an older bottle that would retail for over $50 and likely cost $150 from the menu if you could even find it listed. Finally, another tip; offer a small glass of the wine to the manager to taste later, that will help if you ever want to go back and do it again and it frequently gets the corkage waved if its multiple samples from different bottles. Happy BYOing!

Second Topic - Bad Tasting Notes

Regular readers will know that I always stress that the tasting note is more important than the points and that the smart wine consumer looks at the notes and tries to align their palates to the writers. That’s all very well and good when you are dealing with good notes but for sometime I have noticed a bit of a trend from a number of well known writers (who shall remain nameless here) who seem to produce some tasting notes that leaves me scratching my head wondering.

I am not disagreeing with their finding on these wines, I am just wondering what they really found and what the wine is really like because after reading the tasting note I have very little idea about the real characteristic of the wine. Here are some examples. (I know I am breaching copyright in not accrediting these notes to their authors but do so as I don’t wish to embarrass them personally, just make a point!)

“Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 1999 - Near perfection as varietal Shiraz; perfect balance between cool and warm climatic inputs; black fruits, spices, supple texture; deft oak Rating: 96”

Now what does this tell you? Its well balanced, is subtle, the oak has been well managed and the fruits good. In reality not a whole lot!

“Jamiesons Run Winemakers Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 - Another cabernet to prove the frailty of vintage charts. The winner of four trophies at the 2001 Limestone Coast Wine show, it has flourished since in bottle. Perfectly ripened cabernet is the base for a Bordeaux-inspired wine, still in the first flush of life, ripe tannins and French oak in restrained support. Rating 96”

This one is interesting because whilst it’s by the same author as the previous one it still doesn’t tell us much. “prove the frailty of vintage charts. The winner of four trophies at the 2001 Limestone Coast Wine show, Rating 96” all adds up to the fact that’s its good wine but what else is there? It’s young, it’s improving, it’s ripe and the oak is well managed. That’s it! Once again, not a lot!

Zilzie Buloke Reserve Petit Verdot 2002 - Bright, deep purple-red; blackcurrant and blackberry fruit aromas lead into a concentrated, quite tannic palate. Rating 85”

It’s tannic and it’s got black fruit aromas; that’s it? Possibly because the wine was so bad that was all the author wanted to say, but who knows?  And here is another brief on from a different author.

D’Arenberg Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2002 - This wine slaughters everything else in its style at the price and it looks even better now than it did a couple of months ago. It’s a fantastic wine. Rating 93.

In this case the author tells you he thinks it’s the best in its class but nothing about the style, structure or even taste. Basically he saying trust me, you will love it and that’s it!

Willowbend Merlot Shiraz Cabernet 2001 – The name Willowbend survives in this blend, and this release is a pearler – Wayne reckons that the blend, of all his wines, is probably the one that ages the best, and looking at both this wine and a 1994 recently it’s easy to see why. This is sweet and raisony with vanilla, riverstones, cassis and sweet cedary herbs in full play. Rating 92.

So in essence the author thinks the wine will age well. It’s sweet (that word is used twice) it has some oak influence (cedar and vanilla) and tastes of river stones. That’s it! But I have no idea what rivers tones taste like, but then to be really accurate one would need to know what sort of river stones as granite river stones would surely be different to sandstone river stones for example.

Do you, as the reader, get a complete picture of the wine from any of these tasting notes? Do you know about the structure, the taste, the tannins, the balance, the complexity, the weight and the consistency? You may glimpse a few facets of the picture but in most cases these tasting notes are like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle.

In many cases the reader is paying for the authors work one way or another and frankly these examples of tasting notes come up wanting. The quoted notes are just a few from many I could have selected from and just two authors who happened to fall into the spotlight but once again, I could have picked from a number.

When reading a tasting note ask yourself, what is this really telling me and what’s it missing. Brief is fine if it tells the story and paints the complete picture but can be useless if it doesn’t. Long is also fine but just as useless if it is hyperbole and tells you nothing.

Third Topic - Sometimes you really have to wonder

Speaking of professionalism is it any wonder that many serious and knowledgeable wine lovers question the credibility of some publications, especially Winestate.  I still subscribe to it and there is some good content but then in a feature story in the 2003 Special Edition which announces the Wine Of The Year on page 23 in summary of the Shiraz section it states:-

“These 81 4-star and 5-star wines really show the strength of this variety and the fantastic selection available to the public. Despite that, we were a little disappointed in the direction many winemakers are taking  - very ripe, hot and one dimensional with forced oak. Our top five wines were, however, outstanding, with the top two coming from the fantastic 2000 vintage.”

 Whilst I can’t and wont argue with the “disappointing direction that many winemakers are taking” statement, one can only wonder how and why some of these wines wound up gaining 4 or 5 stars in the first place.

But the biggest question mark has to fall over the statement claiming that “2000 was a fantastic vintage” (for Shiraz in SA). If you believe that I have a block of flats at Ayers Rock with ocean views for sale.