Charles Melton Nine Popes 1996

Beguiling aromas that mix savoury, fruit and oak characters in a slightly lifted bundle of joy. There's also a meatiness in there that straddles a savoury/sweet line. In terms of palate, it has a thick, seamless mouthfeel that delivers a similar mix of flavours as was smelled, but more fruit forward and richer than one would anticipate from the nose. There are some faint aged characters, but it's still predominantly primary character driven. As I drink, there's a lovely brambly note that is emerging too, a sweet delicious stalkiness. The wine is actually still quite acidic, so it's probably got a ways to go, but I can't think how it could get better than this.

This is a seriously good wine that is still quite young tasting but with the clean, developed mouthfeel and flavour integration that comes with bottle age.

Note that I've subsequently had a couple more bottles of this wine that have not quite attained the same level as this one.

Yalumba The Menzies 1996 - redux

My last bottle. I tasted this a few weeks ago and found the fruit in that particular bottle had receded too far with respect to the oak.

How nice, then, that this bottle seems in much better condition and is altogether more satisfying a wine. The last bottle's oak spiciness is still present, but the big difference is that, here, a panorama of other flavours sit alongside it. There's clean, primary fruit, dusty leafy cabernet character, aniseed, secondary notes that are slightly stinky and sweet, all delivered through a silky, largely resolved mouthfeel. All the elements seem in balance and, although it's not a wine of inscrutable complexity, I love the extra dimension that bottle age has added to what was, in its youth, a fruity and fun wine.

Good bottles of this probably have some way to go, and I regret, now, not having purchased more so I could follow this wine further along its life. Perhaps auction will provide a solution. No matter -- a sophisticated wine that is drinking well.

Yalumba The Menzies 1996

I remember tasting this wine at a comparative Coonawarra tasting back in 2000, I think. There were 70-something wines on the night, and this was one of the first. At the time, I was struck by the bright, attractive quality of its fruit. I bought a few bottles and tucked them away safely.

I've been meaning to try it the last few years, but somehow never got around to it. Tonight, however, saw me popping the somewhat crumbly cork on a bottle.

On the basis of this bottle, I may have left it too late. Things looked promising as I poured our first glasses, with exciting spicy aromas emerging from the glass on impact. Unfortunately, these spicy, oak-derived flavours are almost totally dominant, as the fruit has receded to nothing and left a dearth of secondary flavour in its wake. That said, the oak displays some complexity, with spice, vanilla and tobacco notes. But the wine shows no balance, and the finish is quite thin and astringent.

I have one bottle of this wine left, and I'm wondering if I should leave this for a while, to let the oak recede and the whole wine to perhaps turn into an altogether subliminal experience.