Seppelt Rutherglen Pinot Noir 1970 Wednesday, Jun 25 2008
Tasting Notes and Australia and Rutherglen and Variety and Red and pinot noir
A friend who has a very eclectic cellar put this up, yes masked. It opened with the nose that I associate with older Aussie dry reds, a mix of cinnamon spice, red berry and a little mushroom. On the palate it tasted more like an old shiraz that was dried out. It had no faults and pretty good colour too. The friend believes this was the original experimental planting for sparkling base that Seppelts had and is now owned by Pfeiffers. Surely the oldest Pinot Noir vines around?
Tasted : Nov07
Alcohol : 13%
Closure : Cork
Drink : 1973 - 2007
Source : Friend
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22 Responses to “Seppelt Rutherglen Pinot Noir 1970”
June 26th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I believe there was Pinot around in the Hunter for many years - back to the 40’s and 50’s at least.
GW
June 26th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Yes, the original plantings from 1832 but I suspect with the mite that causes probs to vine trunks in the Hunter the PN of old died out many years ago. I also suspect that this is the oldest 100% PN about. The original ie first medal winning aussie wine was indeed a Hunter from 1823 and was meant to be based on a fortified Hunter Pinot. Some doubt exists re the authenticity of the varietal then because it came from South Africa.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:56 am
We have some old Pinot here at Tyrrell’s, Not sure when it was planted.. I think the 20’s?
June 26th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Chris, is it from the Penfolds vineyard? Have you had it looked at by an ampelographer? It could well be one of the South African sourced vines or maybe one of the Blaxland mix. If you haven’t got his orig list to refer to I have a copy.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Also, just spoke to dad, he said the vineyard wasn’t that old.. More like the 1960’s. He did also say that when pipers brook was started that we gave them cuttings from here because of a mutual friend. They took Pinot and Chard
June 27th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I was at Best’s in Great Western a couple of weeks ago where they mentioned that their Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir grapes are some of, if not actually, the oldest in the world. They recently sent cuttings of their ancient Riesling vines to be replanted in Germany, too. Not sure exactly where.
BTW - The Royal Mail in nearby Dunkeld was matching the pinot meunier with venison and a chocolate “soil” the night prior to the Best’s visit.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Bests used to have one of the oldest Dolcetto as well as I recall which was part of the original PM patch. It was identified by a visiting French Ampelographer in the 70s’. Must contact them because we need to get all this ancient history stored collectively,in more than the encyclopaedia on feet (JH).
Food at Royal Mail is great.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Was Best’s the (Australian) source of that old shiraz clone planted in the four acres block, or am I getting things mixed up?
Fascinating stuff.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Busby clone (apparently from La Chapelle)
GW
June 28th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Correct Gary.
The 4 acres was cuttings from Busby’s original collection
June 29th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I had a bottle of the Bests Old Clone Pinot 2006 on Thursday night. it is from the vines dating back to 1868 and Viv T has finally got round to separating the fruit from the meunier and bottling the Noir separately (the vines are mixed in together and there are only about 7 rows of the PN). The vines are thought to be the oldest existing PN vines in the world according to advice Viv has had from viticulturists in Europe. It lacks true Pinot character (which is not surprising coming from the Grampians) but it is a lovely dry red.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I reckon I may have just about the oldest Seppelt Pinot Noir bottle around. Many long years ago I bought a bottle in an old blood and guts pub at Belfield Sydney. God knows how it got there but I grabbed it as a curio and an unconsumed curio it remains.
It is labelled as 1966 Bin NO.U36 Pinot Noir. The blurb states that it was cellared and bottled in its first year at Great Western and is devoid of any wood influence or cask age. It goes on to state that it is made in the light style and that plantings of Pinot Noir in Australia are very limited. I assume it is from Great Western material but who knows?
It may well be undrinkable but I’ll open it and let you know how it goes. I also have a bottle of 1969 Pinot Meunier bottled by Rhinecastle (Johhny Walker’s wine club)from Bests at Great Western. It becomes increasingly difficult (and irrational) to drink these old cellar dwellers purchased in my early years of wine collecting and drinking but postings like these do prompt action.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Pfeiffers own the Rutherglen vines now and Chris Pheiffer says: “This will no doubt be sourced from our vines at Wahgunyah, which were planted in 1962. The 1967 is highly regarded.
The wine was probably matured and bottled at Great Western.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
We had the ‘66 pinot noir from Seppelt tonight and clearly it was not from Great Western but more likely Rutherglen.It also tasted like an old Aussie shiraz at first and smelt of tar and old socks.However it opened up to be quite a different wine with a lovely long sweet fruit flavour that was more than acceptable with the coq a vin. Shades of the Mount Pleasant pinot Hermitage wines of the 1960’s that we have also enjoyed. As Max Lake used to say, keeping wines for long periods of time is a gamble but much more fun than the TAB!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
My girlfriends father has several bottles of Seppelts Great Western wines from the sixtys and early seventys from memory a “66″ and “73″ Chalambar and also a couple of vintages of Moyston “76″ comes to mind. . While these wines have not been stored idealy, they have been keept in a mud brick house in the ranges near melbourne. They have similar labels to to the pinot illustrated. While being a piece of history does anyone think these wines are worth a try or are the better kept a memory of the past?
July 7th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I have had some 76 and maybe a 73 and some from the late 50’s as I recall. I also seem to remember that one could buy them from Seppelts cellars at Great Western in the early 70’s so give them a try and report back to me.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Got a Seppelt Bin no BW6 Hermitage 1970
” private bin ” from auction and it was a really
nice food friendly wine opened last July.
Worth opening. 85/86 points drinking only-
some points more for the positive surprise.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
After the surprisingly very drinkable Seppelt 1966 Pinot Noir last night, I am now encouraged to drink another two oldies that I have entombed in my cellar. Back in 1969, on a wine pilgrimage to Victoria and South Australia, I visited some of Melbourne’s esteemed wine cellars. Dan Murphy probably had just the one shop back then! At Crittenden’s, I bought a house label of 1964 Great Western Claret. The label explains that it was a shiraz from Best’s Great Western. At another place in Chapel Street Prahran called Le Bon Vin Cellars Franeva Pty Ltd, I lucked upon a tasting and when I told them I was from NSW, three bottles of a special wine were offered for sale to me. The one remaining bottle is heavily ullaged but the two previous ones were wonderful old Aussue reds. I was told that the wine was the 1960 Bin Q72 made by Colin Preece of Great Western fame and that the bottling was so limited that it was sold to the store and they put a small label on the bottles to identify it. I’ll let you know how they open up. I’m determined to drink these two and the 1969 Pinot from Rhinecastle (Best’s) before the weather warms up. My dear wife who is a great cook will be up to the challenge I’m sure.
Am I becoming an out of the closet old wine perve flashing my bottles before a much younger audience?
July 8th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
It is important for us to see how old stuff ages. It is also important to realize some winemaking factors and choices have changed. In the old days the birds could cause havoc at Great Western and flavour perceptions were towards the leaner side so many of these oldies come from much lower sugar levels at harvest and as a result the wine can have flavours based around secondary/aged characters. Keep us posted Paul
July 9th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I work at a Sydney bottle shop that has a couple of bottles of 1984 Best’s Pinot Meunier. It’s quite pricey but I am tempted to buy a bottle to try. I don’t want to waste the better half of a hundred dollars though so is there anyone out there who knows wether this wine is past it, is still drinking, or should be avoided at the price? Anyone…
July 9th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
To Mal,
Sighted a bottle of Best’s 2006 Old Clone Pinot Noir today. It says it’s planted in 1987 from CLONES from the 1868 vines. Or are we talking about two different bottlings???
July 10th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Alisdair line up some mates to try the 1984 with. Have a range of wines and chip in to cover the costs. Maybe try it as a BYO curio. When I do that we get about 30% corked and 20% that are pretty good with the average age being 20 to 30 years.