3/9/2006 Grand Blind Tasting at Ping Jun Lau 2006/03/09

Year	Wine	Price	Rating
2002	Clarendon Hills Brookman Vineyard Shiraz, Australia My notes: Tight, blackberry, olive, acidic, plum, anise, Brookman? RP: 96 points. Remarkably the 2002 is even more compelling. Still an infant, it exhibits a saturated blue/purple color as well as a marvellous perfume of blueberry and blackberry liqueur intermixed with scents of flowers graphite, vanilla, coffee and licorice. It possesses great intensity along with a wealth of fruit and glycerin covering substantial tannin, and a spectacular finish that lasts over a minute. Give it 3-5 years of bottle age, and enjoy it over the following 2 decades. WS: 88 points. Firm in texture, with a green edge to the anise-scented dark berry flavors, finishing with persistence and a real sense of elegance. My analysis: RP is way way off here. Or perhaps the notes prepared by the organizers are wrong. This wine has a very obvious herbal olive/anise-like green edge that I have noted down, matching ! perfectl y with WS's remarks (which was not provided in the competition although I copied it down). It is also much closer to 88 pts than 96. Without doing the WS homework, it is virtually impossible to distinguish Brookman and Hickinbotham. The only differentials rely on the interpretion of the aesthetic terms "structure and definition", rest is almost identical. - so - ws	n/a	***½
1999	E. Guigal, Hermitage My notes: a bit of barnyard, blackcurrant, floral mineral finish, very tight, long finish, beefy, not very concentrated. Hermitage? RP: 90+. It has shut down since bottling, but it exhibits a deep ruby/purple color as well as a big masculine, virile nose of roasted meats, pepper, earth, minerals and black fruits. Currently closed and impenetrable. It should open with another 4-5 years of cellaring and age for 15-18 years. WS: 93 points. Ranked no. 38 in the 2002 WS Top 100. A gentle giant of a wine. Subtle and elegant Hermitage, layered with sexy aromas and flavors, from tobacco to green olive, roasted game, mineral and blackberries. Silky mouthfeel, this medium-bodied red is smooth, yet also fresh on the long finish. Tempting on release, but will age for years. My analysis: Obviously French from the nose. The only other French are Chateauf-du-Pape and Bordeaux. This is obviously Rhone from the floral mineral fini! sh. Fro m it tightness, it must be a Hermitage. - so - ws	n/a	****
2000	Cantemerle, Haut-Medoc My notes: tobacco, green pepper, blackberry, dusty, coffee, earthy. Cantermerle no doubt. WS: 91 points. Opulent red. Intense aromas of currants, ciga tobacco and berries. Full-bodied with a solid core of silky tannins and a long finish. Well-made. My analysis: Obviously Bordeaux, as there is only one in the wine list, it is the Cantemerle. - so - ws	n/a	****
2002	Clarendon Hills Hickinbotham Vineyard Shiraz, Australia My notes: earthy, elegant, silky, pepper, coffee, young, jammy, orange peel (Hick). RP: 97 points. The stupendous 2002 exhibits a saturated purple color as well as an extraordinary bouquet of ink, blackberry liqeur, creme de cassis, smoke, licorice and expresso. Massively endowed, with great concentration yet tremendous structure and definition... My analysis: This is a tremendously better Shiraz than Wine #1. My "elegant" description matches with RP's "structure and definition", I also have the coffee description matching expresso. So this is the Hickinbotham. - so - ws	n/a	*****
2002	Clarendon Hills Romas Vineyard Grenache, Australia My notes: Intense, floral, cassis, licorice, strawberry, long finish. Roma. RP: 96 points. The wine's saturated ruby/purple color is followed by a superb bouquet of black fruits, truffles, Asian spices, figs, and licorice. Powerful, rich and upfront. This layered, intensely concentrated Grenache can be drunk now or cellared for 10-12 years. My analysis: This is another tremendously good wine from Clarendon Hills. The intensity is even stronger than the Hickinbotham. For a few seconds, I had thought to swap the two answers. The main differentiator is the varietal. I told myself it would be a shame to confuse Grenache with Shiraz. With that in mind, the floral and strawberry (which may very well be RP's fig description in retrospect) is not characteristics of Shiraz/syrah. - so - ws	n/a	*****
2001	Chateau de Beaucastel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape My notes: Lots of grenache pepper and meat, jammy, very tight, long finish. WS: 91 points. Ripe and fleshy with lots of black cherry, plum, anise and tar flavors riding along a succulent palate. Sweet and velvety on the finish. This is drinkable now but will age easily. RP: 96. Francois Perrin, owner, feels the wine is similar to the 1990 although I don't see that as of yet. It is a 15,000 case blend of 30% grenache, 40% mourvedre, 10% syrah, 10% counoise, and the balance split among other permitted varietals of the appellation. This inky/ruby/purple-colored cuvee offers a classic Beaucastel bouquet of new saddle leather, cigar, smoke, roasted herbs, black truffles, underbrush and blackberry as well as cherry fruit. It is a superb, earthy expression of this Mourvedre-dominated cuvee. Full-bodied and powerful, it will undoubtedly close down over the next several years, not to emerge for 7-8 years. ! My analysis: although jammy, the tightness of the wine indicates it is coming from an old world region. So the remaining French wine is Beaucastel. The earthy, mixed herbs, gamy flavors described by RP and WS are not present. It is undoubtedly shut down as predicted by RP. - so - ws	n/a	****