Views on Tasting with Penfolds Notes for the Record
Thursday, 27th February, 2014
- David Farmer
It's an indulgence publishing tastings notes but the following two are so lovely they needed recording.
Both notes are interesting inventions, much like any novelist would create, but instead of descriptions of a new character entering the plot they are about Mr Wine.
The first I found on the cracka wine site and was attributed to the winemaker.
Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005:
"Impenetrable black with a concession of purple at the rim. Saturated dark fruit flavours of blackberry/ mulberry fuse with notes of dark chocolate, Ribena and liquorice. The 'chocolate' spike unfolds with air, revealing cocoa bean (Mocha Kenya) and liqueur cherry components. The overt, aromatic contribution from the legendary, ancient Kalimna Block 42 vineyard offers soul, purity and character.
The (100% new) oak contribution is of academic interest only - completely absorbed. The palate displays an oscillation and juxtaposition between a solid, assertive and muscular first impression, and later, an opulent, saturated and succulent demeanour. Blackberry and loganberry fruit flavours glide across a supportive continuum of tannin and oak to reveal a profound synergy of Blackforest cake and bread & butter pudding flavours. What's promised on the nose is revealed on the palate - perceptions delivered".
The second was from the Penfolds site though I did not record the vintage, not that it matters as you could recycle this for decades. The writer appears to be levitating.
Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz:
"Colour, Bright plum red. Aroma, One would assume: Green peppercorn from the climate/vintage; clove from the French oak; stewed blackberry, quince and mulberry from the fruit, Coonawarra. However, how to explain the bayleaf, lavender, graphite, boot polish …? When we find out we’ll be sure to let you know! Nevertheless, certainly varietally and regionally ‘correct’. Palate. Medium-bodied. Lively, fresh and alert – avec a nervy acidity/energy. Rhubarb, Pink Lady apple fruits – supplemented by a distractional splash of the savoury."
Wine notes of great length are a recent phenomena and I suspect it was that man again Robert Parker, perhaps inspired by Michael Broadbent, who lifted the bar forcing all contenders to compete.
The tasting note is the wine trade's equivalent of a sonnet but without the formal rules. It generally starts with an idea of the colour, moves on to suggestions about the aroma, quickens the pace with hypothetical observations about taste and at the advanced level finishes with a flourish by suggesting a food match. I can say that all tasting notes go beautifully with tongue in cheek.
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