The Auswine Forum

NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - LANGTONS CLASSIFICATION - Glass Brasserie, Sydney (1/07/2026)

Another Langtons theme. The 8th classification (in just 30 years – a triumph of marketing!) has 100 listed wines, with 21 in the top tier; our theme for the night.

• 2018 Printhie Swift Cuvee Brut - Australia, New South Wales, Central Ranges, Orange
  {diam, 12.5%} [Glenn] Why would you go to the trouble to write “tirage 08/16” on the label but not the date of disgorgement other than a cryptic “#2” identifier? Beats me. This has a developing, mildly lemony nose. It’s fully dry, light/medium in weight, with a fine texture and soft chardonnay-fruit flavours, nectarine, white flowers. Not a lot of autolysis character evident. Medium sized creamy bubbles, medium length finish. A little more time (either on lees or in bottle) should help.
• 2018 Chambers Rosewood Sparkling Gouais - Australia, Victoria, North East, Rutherglen
  {cork, 11.5%} [Glenn] Served blind. Surprisingly deep yellow. Aged nose of nutty characters. The palate iis very odd; seems oxidative in flavour, but the bubbles are very fresh and its condition is fine. Medium weight, quite hefty bubbles. Someone said it had cider-like qualities, true; I think there’s just enough sugar left here to push it out of the brut category. Add to this a possibly oxidative winemaking style – maybe to extract some character from this unicorn of a grape variety – and you get this result. Short/medium length finish. Ready to drink, I’d say.
• 2017 Tyrrell's Sémillon Vat 1 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
  {screwcap, 11.5%} [DavidL - guest] Still a flash of green colour amid pale straw. Smoky nose; aromas of lemongrass. Despite medium acidity, this has a greasy sort of feel to the texture. Absolutely dry, with melon and straw flavours. Light-bodied. Feels in something of a dumb phase, despite the screwcap. Keep.
• 1975 Tyrrell's Pinot Noir - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
  {cork} [Gordon] The first of two curios left over from Ted’s cellar. Laboratory-style, hand-written label. Level was ‘very high shoulder’ as auction-speak goes. Hopes weren’t high! Astonishingly, this was more-or-less drinkable. Leather polish, camphor, hint of volatility. Low dusty tannins, not too astringent. Definitely wine, but hollow and faded. Just as well the finish is very short…
• 1974 Orlando Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
  {cork} [Gordon] Shiraz with CS pressings. A wine sits in a cellar for half a century, the level sits at the bottom of the neck, and then it’s irretrievably corked when opened. Not even poured for the table. NR (flawed)
• 2019 Brokenwood Shiraz Graveyard - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
  {screwcap, 13.5%} [Gordon] Polished, but slightly sulphury and reductive nose. Soft red fruit. There’s a very even palate of gentle cherry/raspberry flavours; it’s perfectly drinkable and enjoyable now while still feeling somewhat tight. Medium weight, with medium chalky tannins. Medium/long finish. Probably should have sat in a decanter for a while. Served alongside the 2017; this was appreciably more youthful in colour; similar on the palate, although the older wine had a double-decant several hours earlier.
• 2017 Brokenwood Shiraz Graveyard - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
  {screwcap, 13.5%} [Greg] The family resemblance to the 2019 is clear; this is also a touch reductive, but clearly more advanced, with an earthy edge to the blackberrylike flavours. Gentler low/medium powdery tannins, still medium weight overall. Also with good presence right along the tongue, with perhaps a little more dimension overall than the 2019. Neither wine is especially oaky; and they are both in need of significantly more cellar time to bring out the nuances (like that we saw in the 2014 last year).
• 2017 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
  {screwcap, 14%} [Andrew] Oddly, this appears to be on the second Langtons tier these days. No bruiser on the palate; it’s mild and gentle, slightly developing, with soft currant flavours and classy cedary oak. Medium weight, with medium dusty tannins and subtle acidity. Still a bit reticent, the finish is understated but surprisingly persistent. The wine most obviously in need of more age tonight, I think. Wait a decade or more.
• 1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
  {cork, 13.5%} [Stephen] Old-school red that’s at the end of its development plateau. Malt, vanilla and coconut aromas. An advert for US oak. In the end, only about medium weight, thanks to a quarter century of aging. Still has elements of ripe blackberry jam fruit, with some chocolate too. Low/medium powdery tannins, medium/long finish. Big luxury style, ready to drink.
• 2006 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
  {screwcap, 14.5%} [DavidM] An encore from last month! This was a beautiful example, with a maturing perfume of five-spice, flyspray and sweet jam. Quite the exotic nose after the last couple of cabernet wines. Way less sweet than you might fear from the nose; the spicy red fruit coats the mid-palate beautifully and gives the whole thing a terrific integrity of flavour. Medium dusty tannins; if these were just a little more assertive I think the wine would approach transcendent. Medium/long finish; drinking beautifully now but will be lovely over the next decade.
• 1996 Wendouree Shiraz - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley
  {cork, 13.5%} [Graeme] My double-decant four hours prior suggested this was not showing well at all, and the intervening time didn’t lift the wine as I hoped it might. Did it need six hours in a decanter or something? I suspect not… Still nicely dark in colour with minimal bricking; cork was a bit spongy but no sign of leaking, level was still well into the neck. Malty, bacterial sort of nose, lacking developed fruit. Chalkily tannic, becoming astringent; certainly not corked but maybe somewhat oxidised? But then desiccated on the palate; medium length finish but without much interest. These late-90s Wendourees have been very hit-or-miss for me.
• 1986 Penfolds Grange - Australia, South Australia
  {cork, 13.7%} [DavidH] Double-decanted before dinner. Still an absurdly dark garnet for a forty-year-old wine. Astonishing depth of aroma; blue and black fruit, exotic spices, a faintly seductive tarry note. Lean aback and savour it. Fears that palate might fall short were unfounded in this case; it’s voluptuous, rich and balanced all at once. Tar and violets and blackberries and plums; there’s so much ripe fruit still evident. Medium/full weight, with medium chalky tannins; the American oak is fully swallowed by the richness of the fruit. Big, even palate presence, long, long finish. Quite the triumph. At peak surely; it’s just up to the cork gods how long this will last. No sign of it falling over at all.
• 2017 Château Rieussec Carmes de Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  {375mlk, cork, 14%} [Glenn] The second label from Rieussec. A chemically, glue-like aroma; it smells like some ester that’s been synthesised in a lab, rather than the product of grapes! Medium/sweet, but in an artificial sort of way. Perhaps there are hints of nougat flavour; it’s medium weight but sits right at the tip of the tongue. Medium-length finish, but it’s not very satisfying. The following 2020 example was a completely different animal.
• 2020 Château Rieussec Carmes de Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  {375mlk, cork, 14%} [Mauro] Tossed on the table by Mauro, from the restaurant’s list. Streets ahead of the 2017 for complexity and interest. This has sorbet and lychee flavours, medium weight and a medium/dry level of sweetness which makes for a more satisfying finish, despite being objectively less sweet that the older wine.
• 2022 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Sémillon - Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina
  {375ml, screwcap, 10.5%} [Glenn] Vanilla, nougat, apricot and botrytis. Lavish orange and mandarin on the palate too. Fully sweet, medium acidity. Medium/full in weight. Medium/long finish. Noble One is clearly made as a drink-now style these days; this is quite ready to drink and not in need of more cellaring.
• 2009 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
  {screwcap, 12.5%} [Graeme] Back-up wine, intended redemption for the dodgy Wendouree. Cullen were flirting with biodynamics around this time, a commitment they’ve kept since, with mixed success in my view. This is all herbs over marginally ripe current fruit; mostly there’s rosemary and basil here. The medium-weight palate lacks depth and persistence for me. It’s reticent, subtly oaked, with low/medium chalky tannins but never leaves the green edge behind it. Little mid-palate presence and no more than a medium length finish. Far from convincing.

It’s a tough critic who’d complain about tonight’s wines. The Grange stole the show – what a triumph of a wine it is. The rest of the table wines were all very good (Wendouree excepted); although everything under a decade old needs a bunch more cellar time in my view.

Interesting notes. Only had that Grange once and in a tasting quantity. It was wonderful.

96 an austere Wendouree vintage. Old fashioned Barolo like extract.

G'day Grame

I'm intrigued in relation to a descriptor of 'flyspray' for the 2006 Mt Edelstone. How would you describe it (without using 'flyspray')?

Not being from S.A., I had a similar issue with 'sous bois' a few years ago.

Cheers
Allan

I picked it up from someone else years ago, and it seemed just right. There's a sweet eucalypt almost (but not really), like a sort of perfume that just reminds me of old-style flysprays before they got all allergy-friendly, etc.

I thought Charlie described Mt Ed 20 year or so ago in this fashion. Seems like yesterday! Thanks for the memory Graeme.

“ Charlie Melton—creator of the famous "Nine Popes" red wine in Australia’s Barossa Valley—famously used "flytox" as a tasting note to describe his own wine. He noted that his classic 1996 vintage possessed a distinct, slightly chemical, and herbal aroma reminiscent of the old flyspray. While this sounds unusual, in high-quality aged wines (especially Shiraz and Grenache), these complex volatile compounds add a highly sought-after, unique character.”

“flytox” quite commonly used as a red wine descriptor through the 1970’s. Interestingly that was about the time they stopped using DDT as a component in the fly spray and moved to pyrethrums I think. So not sure what it was we were likening the aroma to.