2006 Bilancia Syrah (Hawkes Bay)
Great first impressions with a fantastic nose. Lots of white pepper,
spices and red and dark fruits with some smoked meat aromas emerging
later with time. The palate though is a huge letdown with thin
flavours of red fruits and spices. This has good acidity but just
seems to lack body and finishes weakly. Disappointing, particularly as
I had a bottle of this a month ago that tasted much better.

2006 Black Kite Pinot Noir Redwood's Edge (Anderson Valley)
Like the Bilancia, this did a lot for me on the nose at first and then
disappointed in the mouth. Beautiful aromas of cherry, strawberry,
earth and clove. Unlike the Bilancia, it's a case of too much on the
palate. This feels clunky and overextracted with dense red fruit
flavours and spices, moderate acidity and soft tannins. With time some
volatile acidity starts to come out on the nose. Drinkable, but not
complex or interesting and the sheer density of this made it difficult
to keep going back to the glass.

1997 Glaetzer Shiraz (Barossa Valley)
Good grief, this is brutal. One sniff of the glass and I'm assaulted
by a ton of oak, dried red fruits and plastic-like notes. A sip was no
better, and I felt like picking splinters out of my tongue. With age
the fruit seems to have disappeared completely and left behind a
disjointed mess of oak, dry tannin and alcohol. Is this how the likes
of Amon-Ra might age? Atrocious and undrinkable (if you can even get
past the nose).

NV Trevor Jones Old Barossa Muscat (Barossa Valley)
Amber-gold colour. Tons of raisin, dried white fruits, fig, orange
peel and ethanol and volatile acidity on the nose. Intensely sweet on
the palate with the same flavours. I like this style when it's done
well (Buller in particular), but this wasn't one of those examples
with the alcohol being very prominent even with the wine served quite
cold.

After this I think I urgently need a nice low alcohol Kabinett or
Spatlese this weekend.

In article
>,
Salil > wrote:

> 2006 Bilancia Syrah (Hawkes Bay)
> Great first impressions with a fantastic nose. Lots of white pepper,
> spices and red and dark fruits with some smoked meat aromas emerging
> later with time. The palate though is a huge letdown with thin
> flavours of red fruits and spices. This has good acidity but just
> seems to lack body and finishes weakly. Disappointing, particularly as
> I had a bottle of this a month ago that tasted much better.
>
> 2006 Black Kite Pinot Noir Redwood's Edge (Anderson Valley)
> Like the Bilancia, this did a lot for me on the nose at first and then
> disappointed in the mouth. Beautiful aromas of cherry, strawberry,
> earth and clove. Unlike the Bilancia, it's a case of too much on the
> palate. This feels clunky and overextracted with dense red fruit
> flavours and spices, moderate acidity and soft tannins. With time some
> volatile acidity starts to come out on the nose. Drinkable, but not
> complex or interesting and the sheer density of this made it difficult
> to keep going back to the glass.
>
> 1997 Glaetzer Shiraz (Barossa Valley)
> Good grief, this is brutal. One sniff of the glass and I'm assaulted
> by a ton of oak, dried red fruits and plastic-like notes. A sip was no
> better, and I felt like picking splinters out of my tongue. With age
> the fruit seems to have disappeared completely and left behind a
> disjointed mess of oak, dry tannin and alcohol. Is this how the likes
> of Amon-Ra might age? Atrocious and undrinkable (if you can even get
> past the nose).
>
> NV Trevor Jones Old Barossa Muscat (Barossa Valley)
> Amber-gold colour. Tons of raisin, dried white fruits, fig, orange
> peel and ethanol and volatile acidity on the nose. Intensely sweet on
> the palate with the same flavours. I like this style when it's done
> well (Buller in particular), but this wasn't one of those examples
> with the alcohol being very prominent even with the wine served quite
> cold.
>
> After this I think I urgently need a nice low alcohol Kabinett or
> Spatlese this weekend.

Are any of these available in the US? I have not seen these wines
before. Thanks for the notes Salil.

On Sep 19, 9:31 pm, Lawrence Leichtman > wrote:
> In article
> >,
>
>
>
> Salil > wrote:
> > 2006 Bilancia Syrah (Hawkes Bay)
> > Great first impressions with a fantastic nose. Lots of white pepper,
> > spices and red and dark fruits with some smoked meat aromas emerging
> > later with time. The palate though is a huge letdown with thin
> > flavours of red fruits and spices. This has good acidity but just
> > seems to lack body and finishes weakly. Disappointing, particularly as
> > I had a bottle of this a month ago that tasted much better.
>
> > 2006 Black Kite Pinot Noir Redwood's Edge (Anderson Valley)
> > Like the Bilancia, this did a lot for me on the nose at first and then
> > disappointed in the mouth. Beautiful aromas of cherry, strawberry,
> > earth and clove. Unlike the Bilancia, it's a case of too much on the
> > palate. This feels clunky and overextracted with dense red fruit
> > flavours and spices, moderate acidity and soft tannins. With time some
> > volatile acidity starts to come out on the nose. Drinkable, but not
> > complex or interesting and the sheer density of this made it difficult
> > to keep going back to the glass.
>
> > 1997 Glaetzer Shiraz (Barossa Valley)
> > Good grief, this is brutal. One sniff of the glass and I'm assaulted
> > by a ton of oak, dried red fruits and plastic-like notes. A sip was no
> > better, and I felt like picking splinters out of my tongue. With age
> > the fruit seems to have disappeared completely and left behind a
> > disjointed mess of oak, dry tannin and alcohol. Is this how the likes
> > of Amon-Ra might age? Atrocious and undrinkable (if you can even get
> > past the nose).
>
> > NV Trevor Jones Old Barossa Muscat (Barossa Valley)
> > Amber-gold colour. Tons of raisin, dried white fruits, fig, orange
> > peel and ethanol and volatile acidity on the nose. Intensely sweet on
> > the palate with the same flavours. I like this style when it's done
> > well (Buller in particular), but this wasn't one of those examples
> > with the alcohol being very prominent even with the wine served quite
> > cold.
>
> > After this I think I urgently need a nice low alcohol Kabinett or
> > Spatlese this weekend.
>
> Are any of these available in the US? I have not seen these wines
> before. Thanks for the notes Salil.

The Bilancia Syrah isn't - I had purchased that in Singapore. The rest
are - the Black Kite is from a Cali mailing list, and the Glaetzer and
Trevor Jones Muscat are both available in retail (I think I bought
them at HDH).

Cheers,
Salil