I’m sure that the general consensus would have been that this wine should have been drunk with its first 15 years and I don’t doubt it would have been a tasty drink but if you wanted to see it in its full tertiary glory you had to wait 25+ years. There’s just a hint of oxidative character (think caramel and mocha) but it’s in such small proportion it adds complexity rather than dominate. There are ethereal whiffs of antique furniture, black olives, menthol, pepper, moss and red currants. In the mouth it is fresh and energetic with very soft tannins but bright and lively acidity that seems to have snap frozen the tart, red berry fruits for a quarter of a century. I ‘Audouzed’ for 4 hours and the wine gained further richness and depth as I worked more air into it whilst in the glass. A delicious Aussie ‘luncheon Claret’ that we enjoyed immensely with dinner.
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Eclectic wine dinner at The Ledbury (The Ledbury, London): The 1981 was the one wine at the previous week's Yarra Yering dinner which had been past it, so David W gave it another outing tonight and it was magnificent - smooth, fresh, silky, with a core of blackurrant fruit, and some game and earthy tones to make it interesting
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11/19/2009 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
I’m sure that the general consensus would have been that this wine should have been drunk with its first 15 years and I don’t doubt it would have been a tasty drink but if you wanted to see it in its full tertiary glory you had to wait 25+ years. There’s just a hint of oxidative character (think caramel and mocha) but it’s in such small proportion it adds complexity rather than dominate. There are ethereal whiffs of antique furniture, black olives, menthol, pepper, moss and red currants. In the mouth it is fresh and energetic with very soft tannins but bright and lively acidity that seems to have snap frozen the tart, red berry fruits for a quarter of a century. I ‘Audouzed’ for 4 hours and the wine gained further richness and depth as I worked more air into it whilst in the glass. A delicious Aussie ‘luncheon Claret’ that we enjoyed immensely with dinner.
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6/17/2009 - Rupert wrote:
Eclectic wine dinner at The Ledbury (The Ledbury, London): The 1981 was the one wine at the previous week's Yarra Yering dinner which had been past it, so David W gave it another outing tonight and it was magnificent - smooth, fresh, silky, with a core of blackurrant fruit, and some game and earthy tones to make it interesting
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6/10/2009 - Rupert wrote: flawed
Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1 - The Complete Vertical 1975 to 2006 (The Ledbury, London): Oxidised. Actually, much better on the palate than the nose, where there was plenty of sweet ripe fruit
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