Stags Leap Vrs Lake's Folly and some others

[bacchaebabe]

We have some of our US staff over for a little while and they took the opportunity to buy some 'half price' (which equates to cellar door prices) wines duty free and bring them over.

Rising to the challenge, the Australian staff put up some aussie wines to taste head to head. Due to a variety of reasons we didn't taste all the wines we had originally planned so it ended up a bit of a Stags Leap Vrs Lake's Folly tasting + two other bottles.

So to the tasting:

2002 Petaluma Riesling (A$20) We wanted to show a unique Australian style so chose the Petaluma riesling. Didn't show as well as I hoped and I believe this is just entering its dumb phase. Very pale colour still with lime and pineapple on the nose. I found it to be a bit flater on the palate but still with plenty of acid and a long finish. We used a 20 point scale and I rated it 15/20. Note I can be quite critical and this is one of my favourite wines.

2002 Stags Leap Napa Valley Chardonnay (US$20) Fairly light yellow colour with butter and sweet melon on the nose. I found the wood overpowered the fruit but it had a long complex toffee and slightly bitter and dusty finish. I wasn't really so keen on this style but felt it was drunk much too young. It was very disjointed and I think a few years may have sorted this out. It had plenty of potential but wasn't a lot of fun right now. I rated it 12/20.

2001 Lake's Folly Hunter Valley Chardonnay (A$40) A yellow green colour and butter, pineapple and melon nose. Lovely peachy, pineapple and malo flavours with a good acid backbone. Very appealing drink right now but will cellar well too. 16.5/20

2001 Lake's Folly Hunter Valley Cabernet Blend (A$40) A deep red colour with purple edges. Cherry and anise nose with a bit of alcohol evident. At first very disjointed with a bitter finish. As it opened up in the glass it became more complex and much more appealing. I wish we could have decanted this to show it at its best. My rating went from a 11 to 16/20 over the space of about 10 minutes. If you're going to drink this now, definitely decant it. I actually had this at the cellar door a few weeks ago and had exactly the same reaction. First sip was just too overwhelming and then it just opened up to something quite stunning.

2000 Stags Leap Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (US$38) This was a deep red in the glass. It was quite easy to distinguish between the two wines on the colour alone. Again a sweet cherry and anise nose. This was lovely to drink right from the start. Very smooth and a long, long finsh with very fine well integrated tannins. There was a bit of alcohol evident but it was not hot at all. Wine of the night for me, much as I hate to admit it! 17/20

Non Vintage Campbells Rutherglen Tokay (A$22) Once again we wanted to show a uniquely australian style. A deep orange colour - probably more so than what it should have been. Cold tea and raisin nose. I found it a bit disjointed again with a tad too much acid for my liking. Not the best tokay I've had but enjoyable none the less. 15/20

Overall a very interesting evening and a lot to learn on both sides. Interestingly one of the americans prefered the folly cab to the stags leap but really there was a lot of quality in both wines.

[GraemeG]

2002 Petaluma Riesling (A$20) ... Didn't show as well as I hoped and I believe this is just entering its dumb phase.

Just leaving it's peak drinking window and proceeding downhill. Drink up...!

cheers,
Graeme