A dinner at Shakey Tables Saturday, Dec 3 2005
Tasting Notes and Hunter Valley and Australia and Rhone Valley and Alsace
Had an excellent dinner up at Shakey Tables in the Hunter Valley the other night. Ambience is good, service excellent and they have a very well priced and comprehensive wine list. On this night we were lucky enough to be allowed to drink our own selection (more on this later).
To start with I ordered the Foie gras & truffle filled brioche with a jellied pear & grape terrine. A very interesting dish that was well presented and offered a range of flavours and textures. To follow on for main I chose the Wagyu beef short rib, potato & pea puree, baby root veg & bone marrow dumplings . This dish was sensational. So juicy. So moist! The texture was similar to a duck confit so meltingly soft and tasty. Oh and we also had a big bowl of chips. I like chips and these were chip perfection.
We drank some interesting wines too. I am just going on memory here rather than notes.
Served blind there was a 2001 Albert Mann Schlossberg Grand Cru Riesling. No problem picking it as an Alsatian in options. A big wine full of flavour and power. Some botrytis and plenty of phenolic extract. Bit short on the finish though.
Next up we opened a 1999 Tardieu Laurent Cote Rotie. This wine is 100% shiraz. Quite stemmy on the nose (must be whole bunches?) with black fruit, smoky oak. Very clean. Just above medium bodied with those stemmy tannins intruding a lot. Over the night this wine opened up very well. Long term wine with a lot of potential.
Then (again blind) a 2000 Brunel Les Cailloux Chateauneuf du Pape. Picked this as a Rhone valley wine but not a CDP. A much cleaner smelling wine than the last one I had. Smells great - you know raspberry, herbs, bit of leather..all of that. Really smooth and refined palate. Drinking very well. Delicious.
A 2000 Meerea Park Terracotta Shiraz/Viognier looked super with a generous nose of stone fruit, spice and vanilla. Lovely ripe sweet fruit on the palate. Looking young but very drinkable.
The 1998 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Shirazhas a complex nose with berry, pepper, anise and leather. Good fruit. Still tannic. Opened up very well. This wine has years to go. Very impressive.
The 2003 Meerea Park Hell Hole Shiraz looked as good as ever. Classic stuff.
Simon, the owner of the restaurant, went off to open a 2000 Mount Pleasant O’Shea Shiraz for us because someone (was it me..hint hint) had not tasted it from a whole bottle. The oak jumped out a bit. Cheap looking resiny oak. Under that very dark, very ripe licorice fruit. Tannins fine and ripe. Quite warm with alcohol. Built up and improved in the glass and the oak settled in. This is monster Hunter Shiraz. Loved it but I wish they would use better oak.
We mopped up the rest of the wine over a plate of excellent Stilton and some Scottish oatmeal biscuits (I would rather water crackers). A top night of food and wine. Shame about the company 
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December 4th, 2005 at 6:10 am| Quote |
Looks like i need to see if I can get a bottle of the Hell Hole to try with you still raving about it. Do you think with the O’Shea that the oak is looking so “cheap” because we are so not used to seeing such a strong American Oak influence in a Hunter wine. With the O’Shea’s it does seem too resolve itself with time but still be a dominant character (for better or worse)
December 4th, 2005 at 1:29 pm| Quote |
I think they use some dud American oak i.e. not well coopered or seasoned or whatever. Just looks too resiny and raw I reckon.
December 7th, 2005 at 8:57 am| Quote |
Hey Gary, glad to find out where you have been hiding.
Read many good reports on the 2003 Hellhole including yours but it was recently knocked for being overoaked. As i know this is something you watch for too, what is your take on it (Seriously please)
Cheers,
December 7th, 2005 at 9:07 am| Quote |
Hello Craigy Baby,
Fleeting visit. Normally would have organised dinner. Jezza has ticked me off already….
The 03 HH is 50% new French of 2 years. It has oak. It also opens quite reduced and sulphury - like a barrel sample - which some could confuse for oak perhaps. It needs an hour to open up. Had the wine 5 times now. I like the oak. It is smokey and Rhoney style oak. Stylistically really good. No dill or resin etc. The fruit is excellent and the oak just supports it correctly. I also think that the 2 years in oak has done very good things to smooth the 2003 tannins as well. Perhaps it was consumed next to lighter wines which made it look showy? It is also savoury - not just from oak. Anyway if you like things like Guigal La Mouline, Chapoutier Le Pav, Delas Bressards, Guigal d’Ampuis then you will dig the style …else maybe not.
You need to get busy on a bottle.
December 7th, 2005 at 9:39 am| Quote |
..oh and who was knocking it for being over-oaked by the way?
GW
December 7th, 2005 at 10:37 am| Quote |
Always trying to be busy on the bottle (have managed to secure a sample of this as well).
Knocking is the wrong word because it was their report on a internet forum - it was how they found the wine, so that is fine to report it as such. But the people writing it are usually pretty reliable in their opinions thought i would raise it here for comments.
Cheers,
December 7th, 2005 at 11:12 am| Quote |
Here is a renowned second opinion on the wine http://www.vinosense.com/?p=106
Also in the top 25 wines of the year in Winefront Monthly.
Although I don’t expect everyone to like this wine - just those with good taste