2002 was a terrific year for Riesling in South Australia. Both the Eden and Clare Valley’s produced vibrant wine’s realising outstanding, pristine fruit, indelible acidity and wonderful ageworthy structure that (mostly) are standing up to time in bottle with considerable aplomb.

Displaying a bright light green/pale straw colour followed by a fine zesty bouquet of lime, grapefruit pith, crushed slate, green pear, apple skin and minerals. The palate is extraordinarily fresh and vibrant with crisp lime, pear and apple fruit, a driving mineral spine, exemplary acid cut, good carry and a wonderfully invigorating and lengthy apply finish. With at least another decade of development to look forward to, this wine could hold for considerably longer if the screwcap seal and proper cellaring conditions prevail. For the record I rate this wine at 92 points with a higher mark in store if it continues to gain complexity whilst retaining its freshness and vitality. 13.0% A/V.

9.6% A/V

AP Nr 2 576 510 10 77

Incredible deep bright burnished yellow gold colour. Lavish, intimidating but still amazingly fresh nose of super concentrated, coconut-coated and honey-dipped yellow peaches, apricots and nectarines with undertones of ripe naval oranges, concentrated lime juice and poached green pears. Wow! The more this unctuous bouquet opens out, the more it delivers. Ripe tropical fruits lurk as an embellishing top note and subliminal hints of pink grapefruit pith and lemon curd add phenomenal counterbalance. There’s a spicy botrytis aspect which heightens the sense of greatness and an eerie slaty minerality I associate with this vineyard. In the mouth the wine is initially as lush, sweet and almost as syruppy as I can manage and then, almost magically, transforms into something perfectly manageable and ultimately drinkable as the citrussy acidity cuts in to provide a proper sense of delineation, focus and balance. The opulent flavours are an instant replay of those found in the bouquet. The finish is naturally full, rich without the slightest suggestion of cloying and of tremendous length. I’m loathe to hazard a guess as to how long this will last in a good cellar but it smells and tastes of considerable longevity. I rate it 95 points. A truly memorable and auspicious tasting.

A.P. nr. 2 577 050 20 84 7.3% A/V

This most remarkable offering from Fritz Haag must rate as one of the most compelling German Riesling’s I’ve had the pleasure of trying in my twenty-five years of serious wine drinking. Admittedly, my exposure, to date, of the great estates, vineyards and the best vintages has been less than stellar, but with this particular wine, such is its beauty, composure and completeness and with its almost inbuilt sense of indelibility, deserves every point of the 95 I’ve given it tonight.

The colour belies its considerable age - a very healthy bright light gold. The bouquet holds a beguiling mix of freshly squeezed lime, lemon zest, white peach, yellow nectarine and mandarin intertwined with a flinty minerality, river pebbles, a touch of honey and a whisper of wet clay. There’s not the slightest suggestion petrol or apricot kernel - an amazing feat! In the mouth the wine reaches another plateau - gorgeously delineated, fresh, silky and rounded, filling every portal with exquisite flavours of lime, ripe Packham pear, nectarine, crisp newly picked apple, redcurrant and a suggestion of cassis all wrapped in a shroud of impeccable mineral-tinged refreshing, crisp acidity that leads to a morish sweet and sour finish of great authority and length. Such are the seemingly immortal powers of this wine, I would predict a drinking window from now to something approaching 2023. Any of the resident German Riesling gurus can correct me on my possibly outlandish assertion but I’m happy to hold a few of these back for some time to see if my prediction holds true.

A. P. nr. 3 551 083-19-84 A/V 7.7%

I recently opened a TCA-affected bottle of this and thought it only fit and proper I drag another from the cellar for reconsideration.

Beguiling youthful colour of bright light gold with a gorgeous flash of green as you raise the glass to the light. Delicate, but intriguing, still quite floral bouquet of honey, minerals, overripe honey-dew melon, waxy apple, nectarine and just a touch of spice, smoke and petrol - still relatively fresh and invigorating. Perhaps not in the first tier but awfully good all the same. The palate marches to the beat of a very similar drum - silky in the mouth but with an intense honeyed richness, not a great amount of cleansing acidity but just enough to maintain focus and counterbalance. Flavours of honey-dipped ripe nectarine, baked Granny Smith apples, a touch of minerale and hint of petrol round off a very attractive, fully mature Saar Riesling that may have been better several years ago. The finish is most impressive with terrific lingering honeyed stone fruit flavours. 90 points (Excellent) from me today. This is definitely a drink now proposition.

This Coonawarra icon has delivered its fair share of stunners as well as a few disappointments along the way, but here the secret lies in the fact this, like so many good Bordeaux’s, from a good vintage, is a minimum twenty-year-wine. And twenty is when I like to start drinking them! Keep this in mind if you see any floating around the traps but do your utmost (as I did in this case) to ensure the wine has been well stored.

Harbours a mature deep brick red colour with ample brown to the meniscus. The bouquet reeks of mature Cabernet - sandalwood, lead pencil, old books, cigar box, cedar and “Coonawarra mint” (not really mint as in the purest herbal sense but a rare regional blend comprising of a blend of eucalypt and peppermint with a sneaky herby/weedy tweak) with some very decent blackcurrant undertones that provide a fascinating counterbalance for everything sitting atop. The palate steps up a notch or two in that it tastes younger and fresher with abundant acidity providing spark and lift, wonderful purity of Cabernet flavour with a robust French oak backing, some seriously firm grippy tannins and an interminably long, wonderfully good finish. I’d rate this around 91 just at the minute and when the tannin softens in several years could render a slightly higher call. The 12.3 A/V is an absolute godsend for me. Long live the wines that need time to get better and better!

This overachieving Pauillac Fifth Growth has produced quite charmimg and consistently high quality claret since the Chateau was acquired by the Borie family in 1978. I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy many vintages of G-P-L from the late seventies into the mid-eighties. The 1982 being totally spectacular on both occasions I’ve had the immense pleasure trying it. The 1979 will never be regarded by the international media as the finest wine the Borie’s have produced but on the many times I’ve been lucky to share a bottle with close wine-loving friends, we’ve never been disappointed.

Exhibits a gorgeous polished cloak consisting of a medium ruby centre with abundant red brick in the edges grading to amber and brown in the meniscus. The classical Pauillac bouquet reveals a melange of integrated, mature scents of lead pencil, cedar, damp earth, forest floor, red bing cherry, damson plum and spice box with top notes of tar, mineral and blood. With extended breathing the totality and breadth of aroma gains intensity and a higher qualitative rating - quite a surprise for its advancing years. In the mouth the wine, similarly, merits an exemplary rating. Fully developed and at the peak of its powers, the palate delivers a smooth and beautifully-honed personality. Of medium body, with fully resolved flavours that mimic the nose to a tee, there’s still enough cleansing acidity and resolute melting chalky tannin to counter the cool plummy/herb-tinged fruit to suggest another few years of pleasurable drinking could be afforded if provenance has been similar to that of this particular bottle. This Outstanding Grand-Puy-Lacoste finishes with great persistence and authority and a well-deserved rating of 90 points.

3/7/08  I left half the contents of the bottle in the fridge overnight and have just come back to it after dinner tonight. I cannot believe how good this wine is after it warmed up to room temperature. It has lost nothing on the nose and, if anything, a decidedly richer, sweeter palate. 92 points and a much longer drinking window than predicted last night.

I have no experience with Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal and although ‘86 is a well-regarded year, I’ve also noted many a scribe’s report for this vintage’s harshness of tannin, so I was a little surprised by this wine’s lithe personality and wonderful resolution. Fully mature but holding an extremely good deep ruby colour with only perceptible lightening in the very outer edge, followed by a solid nose of pencil lead, cedar and weedy blackcurrant with suggestions of freshly turned damp sod, dried herbs and a hint of black olive. The medium-bodied palate offers up a soft but expansive texture, more than enough plummy/curranty fruit underpinned by secondary earthy/herbaceous/cedary characters, low acidity and fully-resolved lacy tannins. The moderately long finish confirms the consistency of everything that has come before - a smooth, rounded wine drinking at the peak of its powers. Nothing startling, but sound, solid and eminently satisfactory. 88 points from me today, this wine should be drunk over the next 3-5 years.

Lovely medium ruby core with some lightening towards the edges. Enticing and still elemental varietal nose brimming with dark plums, pinot sap, sweet earth, a tweak of beetroot and some wonderfully-judged spicy, cinammon oak. A class act with fantastic integration of components and, seemingly, with substantial development in store. After a slightly shaking beginning the palate builds weight and structure as it sits in the glass to rival the wonderful bouquet. Strong elemental flavours of sappy plums, high quality new French oak, sprited acidity and firm tannins frame the nucleus of quite a stunning Pinot with a gorgeous but enigmatically long finish of pinot sap, bitter chocolate, sweet cherry and black plum. At least 5-10 years evolution for this wine to peak! This makes many an expensive French Burgundy look a trifle ordinary and I have no hesitation in awarding it 93 points. A revelation! Thanks to Sue Courtney for her astute guidance in putting me onto this beauty.

13.5 A/V and sealed with a traditional cork closure.

For those unaware about this domaine, this vineyard belonged to Bruno Clair’s mother, Genevieve Bartet. Until 1998, the wine was sold under the label Domain G. Bartet with Bruno controlling the cultivation and vinification since 1986. As from the 1999 vintage the wine has been marketed under the Domaine Bruno Clair label.

For those lovers of funky, feral Burgundy’s, this wine’s aromatics delivers in spades. Thankfully, allowing the wine to rest (i.e. no swirling), the damp earth, sous bois and barnyard dissipates to allow attractive aromas of sap, satsuma and well-hung game to provide a greater degree of interest and pleasure with suggestions of cardamon, smoke and malty oak following as top notes later. The palate appeals from the outset - typical for the vintage - revealing a tight personality, slightly green tinge to the plummy/cherry fruit, awash with bright acids and firm, resolute tannins, a decent departure and probably at least another decade of cellaring potential. 88 points today with a chance of a slightly higher score if the “cool” fruit can hold up while the acid and tannin soften and integrate. Very good indeed and verging on excellent, but no better on tonight’s performance. 13.5% A/V