The Show & The Lucky (California / Australia)
23 Jun 2015- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(March 14, 2015) ... A battle of '"The" wines: 'The' Show Cab and 'The' Lucky Country Shiraz ...
I started the evening with The Show 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that wasn't meant to last 9 years but seems to have done okay. The nose is dried fruit roll up and prunish, but the taste is smooth with vanilla and dried red fruits, there's even some mocha, toast and Christmas cake; definitely not at peak, but quite worth drinking. 45 minutes in and this wine loses it aged-charm and starts to become a challenge to drink, everything that was worth drinking and made it interesting has disappeared. So drink now and drink quickly as it ain't getting any better.
With the 45-minute result of The Show I tried opening another wine to fill the gap and ended up with a bottle from the same year, but from Australia, The Lucky Country 2006 Shiraz. Same year is where the similarities end; the nose is eucalyptus, plum and pepper, with hints of mocha - palate has lots of fruit in there: blackberry, plum, white pepper, and chalky-raspberry on the finish. Turned out to be a good wine for taco night, and best of all it lasted longer than 45 minutes.
I kicked it off with a Wente 2007 Morning Fog Chardonnay, at the time of its release, and still to this day, I think it one of the best Morning Fog Chardonnay's I have tried ... But that was then and this, is now. I was not surprised by its rich golden colour, nor by the nose of almond skin, praline, a little smoky, caramel apple - and over the course of about half an hour it developed a slight creamed corn note. The palate is very much a let down, although there was really good acidity still, there was also peach pit, buttered toffee, touch a almond/praline and before you smelled it you could taste those hints of creamed corn. It's definitely a wine that has seen better days ... The good news is the current release (2013) reminds me of the 2007 - so buy it now and drink much sooner.
My next bottle was a Lailey 2008 Canadian Oak Chardonnay ... Unlike its American counterpart the Canadian wine (aged in Canadian derived oak might I add) had a pleasant pineapple, coconut, and apple aroma followed on the palate by peach schnapps, apple core, coconut husk, peach pit, a decent amount of minerality, and a pinch of vanilla. The acidity has held up well and continues to be the backbone of this wine along with its long finish. I think the surprise here was that after some 6+ years the wine still maintains a certain element of freshness.
