LYNTONS PICKS from the May Catalogue Aberlour Glenlivet Queer old stuff comes through the door every day at Sterling and this Whisky ranks highly on the rare and special front. Bottled in 1979 as a Centenary Commemorative. Looks good, smart quality engraved decanter. Find another one. Yalumba Horse Race Ports Not so rare, but a great conversational. A set of Yalumba racehorse ports All a bit tatty and in need. The time is coming when they will be a vague memory of a time when all important events were recorded on a bottle of port. Keo Commandaria 1927 This one does have 1927 plastered all over it. More recent bottling acknowledge the solero (blend) dates back to that time. Weird flavour. The cheapest trip to Cyprus you can make Lucien Albrecht Clos Himmelreich 2004 Last Chance? We had plenty of this world class Riesling. Now we are down to the last bottles Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut NV Good story here. Looks like a boxed double magnum intended for the 2000 celebrations. We know it has been in a refrigerated cellar and the wine has been ear tested and all is a OK. Only problem it hasn't found its way into the company of the champagne set later in the catalogue. Veuve Moisans Brut NV We have sold heaps of this quality French fizz to plenty of fussy old sausages. Repeat purchases in a super competitive market must be a good sign. Give it a try if you need a "budget fizz" that could easily be confused for real "champagne" Balnaves of Coonawarra The Tally Reserve 2001 My Hobby horse for this month looks like the 2001 Vintage. Balnaves Tally has kicked some serious goals and has quickly risen to benchmark status. Great wine, underrated vintage and bottle age that puts this baby right in the middle of the "go zone" Barossa Valley Estate Ebenezer 2002 Barossa Valley Estate Ebenezer 2000 I have worn my heart on sleeve for BVE E&E month in and out. Sure it's good. Interesting that the second cut, the Ebenezer, has been creeping up the reputation stakes and certainly been pushing up to serious retail price points. (no longer a cheap and cheerful option) Lovers of E&E should get to know the family Cape Mentelle 1999 Themes this month to include "get the box" Yep not only a cracker Margaret River classic but from refrigerated cellaring and in the original cartons. Castelli Estate Cerca 2007 Riesling fans are always casting around for new and obscure options. Don't know too much about this one but they are serious about quality and reputation. Should be good Chambers Rosewood Liqueur Muscat Should be good? Has a single bottle been shipped by the old Chambers firm that didn't delight? Considered by many to be the top of the Oz fortified tree. This is a recent release Muscat NV Hard to find VERY easy to drink Coriole 1998 The message has started to sink in. Not much of this left. Don't expect any next month. Ticks all the boxes. Great producer, region, wine, vintage and price Cullen 2000 Cullen 1997 Cullen Diana Madeline 2000 Cullen Diana Madeline 2002 Cullen Diana Madeline 2003 Let's celebrate some lesser lights from a major galaxy. Cullen cab merlot is an Oz Icon. Easily resting in the top cabernet class. Look at the vintages about and make up your mind. On the results of great wine making on challenging years. Cullen Diana Madeline 2005 Need an iconic benchmark. How about the results of great winemaking on a stunning blessed vintage. Make any excuse to buy a bottle of the 2005 Diana Madeline. You only live once. De Bortoli Noble One 2002 Back to the "get the box" theme Cute little bottles of angel juice in an unopened carton. Someone has to open it .. Why not you! Devils Lair 2001 The 2001 theme is a double edged job. Not a Classic in SA and ES Australia but 2001 was a stunner in WA. Not lots of money for a wine that will bring smiles to the most discriminating lips Elderton Command 2001 Elderton Command 2002 Elderton Command 2004 The 2004 Shiraz "Command" comes from a single block of 104-year-old vines. It was aged in 100% new oak puncheons (400 liter barrels). Opaque purple-colored, this Shiraz has fabulous aromatics of smoke, melted tar, licorice, espresso, game, and blueberry compote. Layered but tight, this full-bodied wine is thick, rich, and totally hedonistic. The finish lasts for 60 seconds. However, be warned. This monumental Shiraz needs 10-15 years to fully unfold. It will provide pleasure through 2035. This is as far as I go on the R wedding. Command is a performance that is in only fit for royalty it is a ticket that is getting very hard to find. The serious students might benefit from putting the three vintages above into a line for the one occasion. Very different vintages and very exciting results. Giaconda Estate Vineyard 2006 Got to have it? Well pull out the bucks, not the most expensive Oz Chard by accident. This is the real deal. Read the reviews and weep! And it is here now! Grosset Polish Hill 2007 Get the Box! Best Riesling in Oz? Not cheap but with the neat screw caps this little load is good for twenty years. No rush, the best is always hard to get a lot of. Hardys Eileen Hardy 1998 The best bang for the buck award? If you are lucky, take a bottle of the 1998 Eileen Hardy Shiraz home for around $100. This should stack up with grange and the brightest lights at a price that will make a second bottle so much more realistic. Hardys Thomas Hardy 1999 This story should keep being retold. Wonderful prestige wine that has completely missed consumers imagination. Strong premium wine from a glowing Coonawarra vintage Hardys Tintara 1998 If the Eileen Hardy 1998 Shiraz takes the "bang for buck" award in the Giant killer event; The Tintara 1998 must be the winner in the mere mortal division. Not a lot left being sold as a 6 pack so yes you get the box! Henry's Drive Reserve 1999 This is a real neck oil job. Smooth and slippy with flavour to burn. If Overload is the settling you travel best on try a box. Henschke Cyril Henschke 1999 Cyril Henschke in an un-opened box? Rare and special. Looking good for the long haul. Henschke Hill of Grace 1985 Henschke Hill of Grace 1988 Henschke Hill of Grace 1990 Henschke Hill of Grace 1992 Henschke Hill of Grace 1993 Henschke Hill of Grace 2001 Check it out. The Sterling May catalogue has a river of Penfolds Grange and just a trickle of Henschke Hill of Grace. There are precious few bottles made from a vineyard that is now producing less each year. Investment? Maybe not for a dollar return but catch when you can. Shoot for the recent vintages and you get a cut wood box with each bottle. Henschke Mount Edelstone 2002 The 2002 Mount Edelstone Shiraz is spectacular. Its dense, opaque ruby/purple color is followed by a big, smoky perfume of roasted meats, creme de cassis, blackberries, licorice, and barbecue spices as well as a fabulously long finish that lasts nearly a minute. This flamboyant, exotic, full-bodied, rich, unctuous 100% Shiraz was aged in 80% new American and French oak for 18 months. Drink it over the next 12-15 years. This cuvee often possesses impressive aging potential as evidenced by the 1990 (rated 94) and 1979 (rated 92), both drunk in July, 2005. Hill of Grace climbing out of reach? Well Mt Edelstone is quickly taking on the heir apparent job and building a following of devotees that accept the quickly climbing prices. Try the 2002 Mount Edelstone. The parker Story tells the tale. Houghton Gladstones 2001 Houghton Gladstones 2002 Houghton Gladstones 2003 Houghton Gladstones 2004 Houghton Gladstones 2005 Houghton Gladstone doesn't normally grace the auction catalogues in volume. Just a few bottles drift through, TOO good sell at the skinny prices the secondary market achieves. Looks like we might have to re-open the giant killer event This Margaret River Cabernet has had the premium treatment and aimed at the best of the best. Very tempting to string 2001 and 2005 together against some of the bigger names. Houghton Jack Mann 2000 Houghton Jack Mann 2001 Houghton Jack Mann 1998 Houghtons Jack Mann Cabernet blend is a star on the rise with many buyers coming back looking at other vintages. Have a dabble know that the trend up with this wine is well cast. Prices and demand are expected to keep going north despite the best efforts of current lovers to keep the secret. Jim Barry The Armagh 1991 Jim Barry The Armagh 1996 Good as Penfolds Grange? The Armagh has been a super premium shiraz benchmark for over a decade and interest keeps growing. Try the two vintages; Both stunning wines that fall on either side of a style divide that saw the emergence of an industry acceptance of "critter" styles. Lamonts Methode Champenoise Brut NV Rare and Special; need to sell this in May, or it goes home. Don't wait for prices to fall. Rare and obscure but still a likely flag bearer for WA number 1 methode traditional fizz Majella The Malleea 2001 Back to 2001 my favoured unsung vintage; The Magella flagship is always attracting admirers I would happily put the pick of Lynton's picks tick on this. Classic premium Coonawarra Cab Shiraz. YUM McWilliams Mount Pleasant Lovedale 1998 Just how good is the Lovedale? If you are a premium Chardonnay drinker, maybe it's time to try a back vintage premium Hunter Semillon against a your favoured white. Not cheap but up there with Leo Buring's Leonay and Tyrrells Vat 1 and Vat 47 likely Australia's most established premium whites. Mitolo Serpico 2003 Hard to know if the Mitolo story has run out of steam or whether they have gone underground hidden by lovers of the wines and secrets. Always gutsy and classy, try a few bottles if cabernet with extra richness is appealing. Moss Wood 1995 Moss Wood 2001 Spoiling time, Only the deserving read on. Two of the best Cabernets to come out of Margaret River in the past two decades? Sheer decadence; cook up your favourite winter feast and put these two champions on for the indulgence. Moss Wood 2006 Can't keep hyping this one up and running against the wind. Reduced to clear, this vintage got bad raps on release (sheep?) and has done the ugly duckling transformation and now the most beautiful swan can't shake the reputation unfairly gained in youth. Mount Mary Quintet 2001 You like the box? This the first even unopened 12 of Mount Mary to grace a Sterling Catalogue. Do the checks and take it seriously. Munari Sugar Loaf 2001 The poor pitiful award? This is a good wine from a good producer that has slipped between the cracks. Not good enough for a rave and not well enough known to be carried on the brand. Sadly another causality of the brutal wine world. Priced to sell, certainly a lot tastier than humble pie. Peel Estate 1998 Peel Estate is bordered by houses on Perth's Southside and good Will Nairn is almost a suburban oddity. Like Magill in Adelaide Metro Peel estate has an amazing history and track record. This is a great wine. Stack it up against the 1998 Eileen hardy if you are happy to be surprised. Penfolds Bin 389 1990 Penfolds Bin 389 1991 Penfolds Bin 389 1992 Penfolds Bin 389 1993 Penfolds Bin 389 1994 Penfolds Bin 389 1996 Penfolds Bin 389 2004 Penfolds Bin 389 is without doubt the best value most influential "commercial" wine in Australia. Big Call? Well Baby Grange (389 gets used Grange Oak barrels) has set a standard for decades and proven just how timeless the classic Cabernet Shiraz blend is. Rare opportunity her to look at six vintages from the 1990's. I would stick in the 2004 as a reference point. (a recent outstanding vintage that will show a younger wine in its prime.) Penfolds Bin 479 1960 Too late for the 50th Birthday but this is a rare opportunity to find a recent release, birth year present that will appeal to all and has plenty of cellar life left. Penfolds Bin 60a 2004 The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz Bin 60A Kalimna is a blend of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (56%) and Barossa Shiraz (44%). Its blackberry, blueberry, tar, lead pencil shavings, licorice, and spice box-scented bouquet is followed by a wine boasting an unctuous texture buttressed by decent acidity as well as fabulous extract and richness. This stunning blend should have a minimum of three decades of aging potential and be a true collector's item for many years to come. Suggested to be the best wine Australia is capable of making. This tall poppy is no flash in the pan, read the parker blurb. Suggest stacking it up against the 2001 Magella Malleea. Very expensive experiment; don't expect and complaints. Penfolds Bin 98a 1998 Premium Oz Chardonnay doesn't have a reputation for aging. Sad. The good bottles are a joy but the rate of spoiling is just too high. I have had a good look at these bottles and all look bright and sharp. Know they were kept in a refrig cellar since release. I reckon the downside is limited and the joy of a top example is "priceless" For punters only! Penfolds Grange 2004 The 2004 vintage was outstanding in Barossa, McLaren Vale, and Magill, the regions where the grapes were sourced for the marvellous 2004 Grange. It contains 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and was aged for 16 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. A glass-coating opaque purple color, it displays a superb nose of wood smoke, Asian spices, incense, game, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. Medium to full-bodied, satin textured, with deeply layered, succulent blackberry, plum, and chocolate flavors, it has the structure and complexity to merit extended cellaring of a decade and more. The winery estimates a drinking curve of 2016 to 2050; I-d be a bit more conservative on the long end of the range. It will ultimately be seen as one of the great vintages of Grange. Investment? Get the Box? Safe with the big Parker Points? If you are going to wait until 2050 to make a call it will be long after my pen is sheaved. This box does have it all and for the big hitter the bottom line is not the wine quality that is assured. This was, after all a miracle Grange! Penfolds RWT 2001 Back to the hobby horse. 2001 made some fine wines. Like few finer than the immaculate RWT. Earlier I called the 2001 Majella Malleea as my pick of picks. Don't want to change my mind ... Think we had a dead heat. I want this one too. More on RWT below. Penfolds RWT 2002 Hard to know what barrow to put the RWT. A creature born to do a job the Penfolds masters under the guidance of John Duval wanted to look at a premium Shiraz from the Barossa that better fitted the classic French Hermitage profile. Since the first vintage in 1997 this Red Wine Project RWT (no prizes for the name) has carved a niche that could well undermine big brother Grange. Time will tell Penfolds St Henri 1997 The 1997 Henri must go. Great wine that will always suffer the burden of being "the dullest in a family of geniuses". Heck ... how can you compete with bookends like the 1996 and 1998 St Henri! Buy it up drink and enjoy the savings. Penfolds Yattarna 1995 Penfolds Yattarna 1997 Penfolds Yattarna 1998 Penfolds Yattarna 1999 We looked at the Penfolds Bin 98a 1998 Chardonnay. Same problem with the notorious White Grange. FANTASTIC wines that have travelled through time very badly. Again many bad examples blot out the few shining lights that are truly amazing. All from perfect cellars Have a go and remember Winners are grinners .... losers get back and throw the dice again. Rockford Basket Press 1999 Can't resist the "get the box" tag here. Called the unopened Mt Mary 12 pack as a Sterling first. Looks Live another record. First unopened 12 of Basket Press? What can I say but buy or be sorry. Seppelt Para Liqueur 1899 Seppelt Para Liqueur 1930 Seppelt Para Liqueur 1944 Seppelt Para Liqueur 1947 Para Port is the first OZ wine fad. With collectors in the 1970's and 1980's going nutty over collecting the set Same "collectors" were leaving Penfolds Grange on the shelf as unworthy of serious cellaring. Seppelt Para is seen to be in its re-emergence and owning a few classics shows a well rounded appreciation Seppelt St Peter's Great Western 2003 Can't push for a three way dead heat but the Great Western St Peters is a freak and has been for 25 years. (first St Peters was in 1998) Seppelt Great western Shiraz goes back more than 30 years. Love this wine Never over the top always balanced and thought provoking Tatachilla Foundation 1998 Why Why Why Delilah? Don't understand What Tatachilla did to the gods; but the lack of interest and value the secondary market put on this fabulous wine is just CRAZY If you know "why" please share. Turkey Flat 2002 Turkey Flat 2004 My Favourite Miester Fleischer has a love affair with Turkey Flat Shiraz. And we never have any for him. Sterling has sold fewer than a few dozens. Why? It doesn't make the banishment list. Goes home and never leaves! Try it and see Tyrrells Stevens Reserve 2000 Tyrrells Stevens Reserve Aged Release 1999 Tyrrells make stunning hunter wines (known) they also make a bewildering range of label. These Shiraz classics are well worth a purchase at a price that will please. Were Estate 2008 Were Estate 2006 Margaret River producer that is getting a strong following and being noticed by the fussy set. Try these recent release and see what the fuss is about. Wynns Coonawarra Estate Centenary 1991 Classic wine from a classic vintage. Light and pleasing Drink soon Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch 1996 Something new; in keeping with "get the box" theme here is a great vintage of John Riddoch in a special wooden presentation box... wow! A.Salon le Mesnil 1997 The best champagne in the world? One of the most obscure? Certainly one of the rarest and most expensive. Reserves have been whittled back to sell; have a go and don't be in a hurry. According to the reputation this Champagne is released after 10 years in the cellar and best drunk 10 years after release. Very serious stuff. |