Another week, another sensational tasting in our beautiful new Club Room

On Sunday, Rob took us through a vertical tasting of his Shiraz back vintages. And what a truly amazing experience it was!

Luckily for me, Lucy was on holiday, so I got to sit in on the fun and try these great wines. I took a few notes in between sips…!

 

Firstly, what exactly do we mean by…

Vertical Tasting?

There are two types of tastings when it comes to comparing differences between the same wine variety or type (so, Shiraz in this example).

A vertical tasting compares different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery. Participants progress up (or down) through vintages of the same wine from the same region. It really emphasises the difference between the vintages. 

A horizontal tasting, on the other hand, compares wines from the same year and region/style. Keeping both the wine variety AND the wine region the same enables tasters to identify differences in winery styles more easily.

 

Now, back to the Shiraz…

Rob firstly took us through his process for making the Shiraz – whatever the vintage.

The grapes are picked when they are genuinely ripe. This means the resulting wine is up around the 14 – 14.5% alcohol mark.

The wine is in barrel for at least 2 years. It is subjected the frequent rack and return during this time.

He uses all French oak and around 20-25% of it is brand new.

 

Rack and Return is a term which describes the process of pumping the wine out of barrel and then returning it once the barrels have been cleaned and any remaining yeast lees (dead or residual yeast cells) have been removed. This helps to get some air into the wine, keeping it nice and fresh. It also helps to soften the tannins and allows blending of the different barrels for consistency in the bottle.

 

2001

In true Rob style after a sip or two of the first vintage, he asked tasters what they thought!

And the answer came back from one taster, “Absolutely delicious”

Rob seconded that with, “Sounds like a pretty fair summary to me!”

We all agreed that at 21 years old, this wine was as good as it ever has been. A sentimental favourite for Rob (given it was his first ever Somerled wine) he was genuinely chuffed that this wine was hanging in as well as it is.

If it hadn’t been one of the last bottles in existence, it would definitely still be very drinkable in another 10-15 years.

2001 was a “warm” vintage and this wine had all the tell-tale signs of that. Big, dense, powerful, intense and porty. Just some of the words used to describe it.

 

2002

In comparison, 2002 was a much cooler vintage, so it was very interesting to be able to taste the 2001 and 2002 side by side and take note of the differences this made to the wine.

Still big, but the 2002 was much prettier and fruity. It was bright, fresh and aromatic and had some gorgeous liquorice flavours.

 

2012 Reserve

This one was a massive hit when it was released.

It’s about now that we regret having on the wine list by the glass back in the day!!!

With less than a couple of boxes remaining, this wine is just getting better with age.

Tasting it next to the 2001 and 2002 it is obviously a lot younger. But it was definitely giving those ones a good run for their money!

If the earlier vintages are described as “big” wines, when this one was made it was “gigantic”. It’s the reason Rob decided to make his first-ever Reserve version of his Shiraz. It got a bit more new oak than the standard version and was also in barrel for almost 3 years.

And the taste? Think Cherry Ripe! Fruity with hints of roasted coconut. It had a richness on the palate that stays with you all the way through. In comparison with the earlier two vintages it was more like the 2002 which makes sense as they were both “cool” vintages.

It was a favourite with all the tasters in the room. I even did a vote at the end and this came out on top!

For those of your who haven’t met him yet, we have a newish team member at the Cellar Bar. In a previous life, Clint had a fancy pants job which meant he had the opportunity to taste some of Australia’s (and the World’s) best wines. 

Here’s what he had to say about the 2012 Reserve…

“This is easily one of Australia’s top 5 wines from 2012. It is equally as good as any of Australia’s best wines”!

I know we pay him to say things like that, but Clint really does know his stuff!

I really hope you were among those lucky enough to grab a bottle when it was on the list!

 

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2014

As Rob picked this one up and held it to his nose, I heard him say “wow” under his breath!

That probably says it all!

This was the first vintage Rob put under screwcap instead of cork. But that certainly doesn’t add or detract anything from the wine.

While it isn’t exactly light, it had a real fineness about it. And it was full of those gorgeous liquorice allsorts flavours.

Rob thought that the 2014 might look quite young compared to the oldies, but it certainly holds its own in comparison.

 

2015

The 2015 vintage had a much cooler end to the growing season than some others.

Hence, there were some lovely lifted dark berry, dark chocolate and coffee/mocha notes. It has a gorgeous long fine palate with refreshing acidity pulling all the flavours through.

I only hope we have enough of this left to taste it again in another 10-15 years. t’s going to be amazing!

 

2016

Some of the comments Rob made when he tasted the 2016…

“Is that even better??!”

“Gee, I’m pretty pleased with that”

“oooooh… nice!”

Do I need to say more?!

Personally, this vintage has always been my favourite. And it certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s a beautifully complex, solid wine with terrific length.

 

I know I expected great things from this tasting, but I think we were all surprised by just how well some of the older vintages are still holding up after all these years.

Even Rob himself said he hadn’t expected the competition between the oldies and the relatively newer vintages. He was sure there would be a stand-out amongst them all! 

 

But when I asked everyone to vote for their favourites (with the instruction to vote only once!) there were a lot of people hedging their bets with half votes. It was way too hard to choose just one!

I wonder if it will be easier this weekend…

 

Luxury Museum Horizontal Tasting & Grazing Luncheon with Rob

There are a few precious tickets left for our last tasting in this series.

We’ll start off with a THIRTEEN year old Fume Blanc (Somerled’s first and therefore Rob’s favourite!). Then we’ll take you on a Somerled journey from there!

Includes back vintage Somerled Shiraz, Tempranillo, Chardonnay & Pinot Noir.

Saturday, October 22^nd

2.30-4.30pm-ish

Email me to book your ticket!