WTN: Corton, Tig, Pape, Mondavi, Penfolds.

Notes from a blind tasting – a flight of whites and then a flight of reds.

All whites were the 2000 vintage.

Pio Cesare Piodilei – first time I had tasted this Chardonnay from the Langhe. Fair bit of colour, excellent fruit in the nose, and a little heat, full flavoured, lemony and long.

Leflaive Bienvenues Batard Montrachet – I liked this wine quite a bit, except that the excessive sulphur simply spoiled it for me. Tropical fruit nose, sweet and full on palate, fleshy feel, ready to drink and veryu good with food.


Bouchard Corton Charlemagne – interesting nose, stones with a hint of menthol , smooth tasty and crisp. My second favourite

Mt. Mary Yarra Vineyard Chardonnay – a nice lime nose with hints of pear, not as complex as the previous wine, full bodied and balanced and with nicely calculated oak. This was the unanimous favourite and that surprised just about everyone when the wines were revealed.

All reds were of the 1990 vintage.

Tignanello – earth and blood in the nose, but less funky that the recent bottle I opened. Hint of prune developed over time. Still a fair bit of tannin, good fruit and a very slight astringency. Medium long finish.

Pape Clement – ripe sweet nose, with cedar and berries, sweet entry, long sweet finish. Most figured this for an American wine. 50/50 merlot/cab.

Mondavi Cabernet Reserve – mellow mature claret nose, smooth, soft and with good length and complexity. The one everyone liked best and also the one they pegged for a Bordeaux!

Penfolds 707 – this cabernet was ripe and dark, but had only a slight hint of mint, so no easy give-away as to origin. Obvious American oak, big soft round tannins, lots of fruit and pretty good length.. Ready to drink, nut no rush. Doubt it will improve but will certainly hold well for a number of years.

Beautifully crafted tasting which fooled a panel of experienced tasters into mistaking what they were having for something else – no easy task.

Bouchard Corton Charlemagne – interesting nose, stones with a hint of menthol , smooth tasty and crisp. My second favourite

Mt. Mary Yarra Vineyard Chardonnay – a nice lime nose with hints of pear, not as complex as the previous wine, full bodied and balanced and with nicely calculated oak. This was the unanimous favourite and that surprised just about everyone when the wines were revealed.

Perhaps the unanimous voters at this event preferred the Mt Mary style of Chardonnay to the Bouchard style of Chardonnay. Of course it's dependent on what fruit they work with too. You said the Mt Mary had less complexity and was more fruit and oak forward. But aren't the better wines those that are more complex, that aren't so obviously fruity, that aren't so obviously oaky? I would be interested to hear how you see it.

I scored the Mt Mary and the Bouchard in a tie, the one for all the usual Burgundian virtues and the other for the well balanced yet a bit less complex freshness and the way it went with the food. A few others seemed a bit put out that they had dumped the classic for the new world 'imposter'; I just rated the wines the way I saw them in terms oi drinking pleasure. I have to say that I would never have guessed that the Mt Mary was Australian. Beautifully balanced and made wine.

I was more surprised with my assessment of the reds. I would have sworn that the Mondavi was a claret and I've tasted that wine many times. I think that our crafty host chose the preceding wine perfectly. If he had chosen a less fruit forward less ripe Bordeaux, we'd quite possibly have been touting it as a claret, though I'm not sure we'd have latched onto the Mondavi as an American wine.