7th Man-Man-Has-Wine-Drink 2007/04/14

Year	Wine	Price	Rating
2006	Yellow Tail Cabernet, Australia Bag A. tea, fruit, simple blackcurrant, one dimensional. 7/20 Larry Chan's wine, placed 8th, which became the Best Buy Award winner. - so - ws	4.99	**
2004	Torbreck The Struie, Barossa Valley Bag B. peppery, grilled herbs, tea leaves, long finish. 11/20 Mike Kwok's wine. Placed 2nd. - so - ws	43	***
2005	Hewitson Private Cellars Shiraz Mourvedre, Barossa Valley Bag C. juicy, cranberry, full body but simple. 8/20 Bigland's wine. Placed 6th. - so - ws	30	**
2001	Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet, Margaret River Bag D. cedar, Wisconsin ginseng, sweet, herbaceous. 7/20 Vincent's wine. Placed 4th. There will be another duplicate by Tony placed lower, see below. - so - ws	40	**
2005	d'Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier, Australia Bag E. pepper, astringent, simple, meat, "titanic" (that is too tannic). 7/20 New comer Andrew's wine. This is placed 9th. This is clearly a case of not decanting a good wine and the result will be much different if given enough airing. - so - ws	20	**
2003	Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz, Clare Valley Bag F. corked severely, plummy, it's a shame because the flavor is wonderful. 11/20 Pau's wine. Placed 12th - so - ws	32	**
2001	Leeuwin Estate "Art Series" Cabernet, Margaret River Bag G. lacquer, cedar, sausage, blackcurrant, Wisconsin ginseng. 8/20. Tony's wine. Placed 11th. My tasting notes for this wine is very very closed to the duplicate, notice cedar and ginseng; rating is almost the same. After revealing, I tasted the two in sequence, they are identical. The placement has to do with wine ordering, which can be considered the "luck" part of the tournament. - so - ws	40	**
2003	Kaesler Old Bastard Shiraz, Barossa Valley Bag H. spicy, chalky, violet, very complex, plum, Chinese dried plum, mineral, long long finish. 14/20. Dad's wine brought from Hong Kong. Placed 2nd. This is definitely a contender to be the winner. The finish lost out in the second round tasting. - so - ws	110	****½
2005	Domaine Terloto & Chapoutier Shiraz, Malakoff Bag I. no aroma, grenache, pepper, strawberry, a bit like "Swiss Candy". 4/20. Dom's proxy wine. Placed 10th. I think the stunted aroma was due to mild corkiness although there is no distinctive corky aroma during actual tasting. However, I opened this bottle for Dom and could tell the corkiness as the cork was pulled. - so - ws	25	****
2002	Reynella Grenache, McLaren Vale Bag J. licorice, thin, raspberry, good finish in first round all but gone in second. 4/20. Michael Cheung's wine. Placed 13th. - so - ws	23	*
2004	Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet, South Australia Bag K. cedar, strawberry, vanilla, short finish. 7/20. KK's wine. Placed 7th. Not as impressive as previous tastings. - so - ws	20	**
2004	Warrabilla Limited Release Parola's Durif, Victoria Bag L. leather, earthy, plum, vanilla, very long finish. 19/20. Kevin Ko's wine. Champion. The power and length of this wine beats out the Old Bastard, although the Old Bastard is the more complex wine. A significant percentage of scoresheets score this and Old Bastard with same scores. - so - ws	25	*****
2004	Mitolo G.A.M. Shiraz, McLaren Vale Bag M. mineral, plum, pepper. 9/20. My wine. Not as impressive as the 03. Following L is definitely an issue. But it won't be beating L in either case. - so - ws	60	***