Yalumba Museum Tasting

I seldom write about great old wines I am fortunate enough to taste from time to time. I don’t wish to be regarded as someone who brags or, indeed, writes about wines that are irrelevant to 99.9% of the population. I discussed my reluctance to report on  the Yalumba Museum tasting with Phillip Rich (The Prince wine store and Financial Review) the day after the event  took place on 14 September, and Phillip was of the view that the tasting was particularly relevant to our readers because it showed that Australia can indeed make world class wines. How else can you demonstrate that other than to taste them against the most famous European styles? Taste them we did. Not all of the wines were old and not all were great. However, the tasting did display Australian wine quality to great effect. It also showed yet again how accursed corks can kill, or at least badly wound, superb wine, and proved to the doomsayers that a screwcap is a great seal for at least 25 years. My notes are brief – as I wrote them – with a minimum of embellishment.

Abbreviations: Os Outstanding, HR Highly Recommended, R Recommended, Ag Agreeable, Ac Acceptable

Eight Decades of Eden Valley Riesling

2003 Pewsey Vale Vineyard The Contours  Excellent restraint – fresh lime with hint of grass – crisp, clean and long with lingering acidity.  HR

1993 Peter Lehmann Eden Valley  Honeyed but still fresh. Palate just beginning to dry out.  R

1984 Seppelt Maturation Release Eden Valley  Showing some development but still fresh. Hints of honey – very long – excellent acidity.  Os

1979 Heggies (screwcap)  Delicious and fully developed, showing both honey and toast. Good acidity. Great example of 25 year old riesling.  HR

Note: The screwcap has proved to be a perfect seal, allowing this wine to develop beautifully over a quarter of a century. Is there any reason why red wines won’t age in a similar manner? The 1979 Heggies tasted as if it had been aged under a perfect cork seal. In what percentage of cases is a perfect cork seal achieved? 5%? 1%?

1968 Orlando Steingarten  Vivid gold colour – intense mature varietal wine – rich, honeyed.  HR

1956 Yalumba  Deep colour – maderised – faded.  Ac

1942 Yalumba  Complex – dried apricot – quite dry but still has fruit.  R

1934 Yalumba  Amazing wine – not too dark in colour – peach/apricot – only just beginning to show signs of drying.  Os

The “Rhôney” Whites

2003 Giaconda Aeolia Roussanne  Complex matchstick – hints of pear – texture like chardonnay – power, finesse and freshness.  Os

2002 Yalumba The Virgilius Viognier   Superbly perfumed – apricot but not over the top – has texture, length and balance.  HR

1997 Tahbilk Marsanne  Can’t cut it in this company – typical developed honeysuckle but simple.  Ag

1997 Condrieu La Doriane (Guigal)  Deep colour – potent apricot/ginger but also quite phenolic, hot and oily compared to the Virgilius.  R

1989 Condrieu (Yves Cuilleron)  Tired out.  Ac

The “Sweeties”

1983 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (Egon Müller)  Mature, honeyed – retains fragrance – slightly drying but still enjoyable – very much riesling.  R

1983 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese (Egon Müller)  Richer and fresher – excellent sugar/acid balance – hints of stone fruit.  HR

1983 Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese (Egon Müller)  Deepest coloured – could be mistaken for beerenauslese – superb, complex, botrytis – great acid – long and lingering.  Os

1981 Château d’Yquem  Wonderful freshness – apricot and baked apple – long and rich – what a palate!  Os

1981 Château Coutet Cuvée Madame  Far more deeply coloured and developed than the d’Yquem but quite gorgeous- luscious – citrus peel, crème brulée etc – layers of complexity.  Os

The DRC Whites

2000 Le Montrachet (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)  Quite pale – strong matchstick overtones – powerful – modern – structure and texture plus – a model for chardonnay.  Os

1993 Le Montrachet (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)  Showing obvious development – butter+ - not great finesse but still has power – starting to fade.  R

1979 Le Montrachet (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)  Deep colour – fully developed – honey/butter – very rich and powerful – drying on the finish.  R

I’m confident that recent changes in winemaking will see the 2000 comfortably surpass both the 1993 and 1979 as it reaches their respective ages.

The DRC Reds

1985 Romanée-St-Vivant (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)  Browning at edge – great perfume but still quite stemmy – silky palate – long and stylish.  HR

1985 Richebourg (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)  More developed than St Vivant – clearly not a good bottle – still offers sweet fruit but has a slightly oxidised edge.  R

1985 La Tache (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)  Again slightly developed but clings to that ethereal nose for which La Tache is famous – good length and structure. Again not a great bottle.  HR

Even the great DRC is not immune from the curse of the cork.

The Merlots

2000 Smith & Hooper Wrattonbully  Slightly leafy – red fruits – sweet fruit but fairly simple.  R

2000 Parker Estate Terra Rossa  Big ripe and oaky – impact but not much finesse.  R

2000 Duckhorn Napa Valley  Solid, almost jammy – rich fruit – slightly furry tannins – not exciting.  R

2000 Château Trotanoy  Oaky and somewhat new world in style but has underlying Brettanomyces stink – intense but a bit hard on the finish.  Ag

2000 Ornellaia Masseto  A lot of oak but superb fruit – dark berry/plum – tight and long – should age very well.  HR

We often ask “What’s all the fuss about merlot?” The Italian wine is the only one in this bracket that gives us cause for optimism.

The Spaniards

1989 Vega Sicilia Unico  Amazing red colour – ripe red berry/blackcurrant – firm – remarkably undeveloped – strong tannins – I expect it will age very well.  HR

1974 Vega Sicilia Unico  Some VA – complexity building – still shows red fruits – pity about the VA.  Ag

1964 Vega Sicilia Unico  Colour red with faint brown edge – hint leather, hint dark chocolate powder – tending to classic claret in style – mature but still with underlying youthfulness.  Os

The Italians

1985 Barbaresco (Gaja)  Complex notes – still some violets – quite firm but has sweet fruit – a bit too far towards old fashioned Barolo.  R

1971 Barbaresco (Gaja)  Superbly mature and complex nose but tannins are tough.  R

1961 Barbaresco (Gaja)  Colour like mature burgundy – great complex, still slightly perfumed nose – sweet fruit – firm - balanced.  Os

The Moutons

1995 Château Mouton Rothschild  Good cassis cabernet spoiled by horsey Brettanomyces – back palate fairly hard – disappointing.  Ag

1982 Château Mouton Rothschild  Developed and complex – tobacco and leather – classic Médoc – drinking very well, but I’ve tasted better ‘82s recently.  HR

1970 Château Mouton Rothschild  Excellent development – has the tobacco and leather together with good sweet fruit – true claret – drinking beautifully.  Os

1955 Château Mouton Rothschild  More youthful than the ’70 – amazingly good for a vintage not considered to be one of the greats – perhaps just a tad hollow, but that’s being hypercritical.  HR

1934 Château Mouton Rothschild  Superbly complex nose showing surprising fruitiness – however that palate is stung in the tail by VA – firm – still a very good drink.  HR

The “Maturing Aussies

1992 Yalumba The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz  Holding colour very well – fresh, sweet red berry & licorice – vanilla/cedar oak – plenty of time ahead of it.  HR

1986 Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon  Herbal/tomato stalk – too green and leafy.  Ac

1978 Henschke Hill of Grace  Holding up well – still showing good fruit with hint of leather – tannins fine.  HR

1962 Penfolds Bin 60A  Sadly not a good bottle – a bit dull – some sweet fruit, but not impressive considering other bottles I’ve tried.  Ag

The “Mature” Aussies

1958 Seaview Claret  Impressively fresh – still shows red fruits -  a little leather – great palate – sweet fruit with supple tannins – long – complex.  Os

1955 Yalumba Galway Claret  (half-bottle)  Forty-eight years in half-bottle and it’s still not dead! Has fruit sweetness – slightly tarry.  R

1944 Mount Pleasant Henry Claret  A superb, mature wine that needs no excuses made for its age. Classic Hunter in the finest sense. A marvellous drink.  Os

1937 Caldwell’s Claret (half-bottle)  Clinging to some fruit but has faded.  Ac

The Fortifieds

1970 Fonseca Vintage Port Vibrant with a distinctive spirit lift – a baby of a VP that will achieve legend status.  Os

1970 Warres Vintage Port  More mature and complex than the Fonseca – very fine and balanced  - a burgundy of VPs.  HR

1908 Yalumba Muscadelle  Green/brown – significant wood acid – concentrated – coffee essence character in the manner of a 100 year old Para. Almost impossible to rate.  HR

1860 Sercial Madeira  Extraordinary – Sercial is at the drier, “lesser” end of Madeira. Pale brown colour – hint of Cognac to the nose – no sign of fading – balanced sweetness – no sign of drying out.  Os 

The Finale

1914 Pol Roger  Deep orange/brown colour – crème brulée – has lost some of its sparkle but not all – a curio, but a wonderful one.  HR

My most sincere thanks to Robert Hill-Smith for the invitation to this tasting. As Len Evans put it, “This sort of tasting doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world now.”

In all such tastings the theme is excellence and the pursuit of it. Will any contemporary producers in the Hunter Valley or McLaren Vale make red wines that will thrill tasters in 50-60 years’ time like the Seaview Claret and Mount Pleasant Henry Claret did at this memorable event. Maybe, but I can’t take the positive view with great conviction. France has demonstrated that a country’s international wine reputation rests on a comparative handful of wines that accept the challenge of the years with grace. Australia has made such wines, but the cultural cringe has prevented us from showing them off, and challenging the French for even a square metre of  the high ground. Now, where do we stand?

We know Australia leads the world in making wine at the ‘commercial’ level. There are glimmers of hope from producers both large and small who do pursue quality to the utmost. We’ll have to cross our fingers for the generations to come. In the meantime we would do well to reflect on the following sage advice from Robert Hill Smith.

Lester Jesberg