What is The Scarborough Classic? Well I am glad you asked. It is a rugby match between the Pokolbin Reds and the Classic Wallabies. The former team comprising a rather motley bunch of Hunter vignerons (including PJ Charteris, Andrew Margan, Rhys Eather etc) and the latter well seasoned ex-Wallaby and first grade players. Interesting. We were lucky enough to be invited up as guests of the Scarborough Wine Co, the major sponsor, for what was largely a trade event. The actual game, was of course, open to the public and there was a very good turnout.

The weekend kicked off with an informal dinner in the winery, followed by a champagne breakfast en marquee, a vertical tasting of the Scarborough range and culminated with the big event - The Scarborough Classic. I’ll cut directly to the tasting if you don’t mind. You can see Ian Scarborough in action in the photo above, adjusting the bottles and twiddling the knobs pre-tasting, and in the background you can see a magnificient vista of the Hunter Valley. If you look carefully you can see herds of wilderbeest sweeping majestically across Hunter Valley Gardens…oh hang on that was later on in the day at the match.Anyway, Scarborough must be located on one of the most beautiful sites of any winery. On a perfect spring day, in a dazzling white marquee and with a cooling glass of champagne under my belt, my belting hangover seemed just a little less intense. Then I looked around and saw Dangerous Dave the Turntable Slave and felt just that little bit less seedy again. Nice.
I have only included notes on the white wines and if you are unfamiliar with Scarborough then ‘White Label’ basically means reserve and with the chardonnay ‘Blue’ means the lighter ‘Chablis’ style and ‘Yellow’ the more traditional richer style.

The Tasting

2006 White Label Semillon - This is the first release with fruit from the re-planted Sunshine Vineyard. Light estery aromas but very reserved. Lemon and slight grassy flavours. Very tight and fine. Beautifully pure wine with clean acidity. This is dynamite. 94+ points

2005 Semillon - Open full nose with hay and sweet lime. On the palate a fuller bodied style with citrus and fruit leaning towards the tropical spectrum. Acid a little hard. 89 points

2003 Semillon - Toasty and waxy with some smokey overtones. A round limey palate with soft toasty flavours. Really attractive. Drink now. 91 points

2003 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc - Honey, nuts, lime and toast. Drying out a little on the palate but still hanging in there. 85 points

2005 Blue Label Chardonnay - Citrus, banana and yeasty aromas. On the palate grapefruit and savoury lees flavours. Very long. 92 points

2004 Yellow Label Chardonnay - Spicy oak, peach and melon. Attractive ripe peach and grapefruit flavours. Slightly spiky acid. Good length. 89 points.

2003 Yellow Label Chardonnay - Spicy oak and again the peach and melon fruit. This has a soft fuller palate with lovely ripe fruit and gentle acidity. Very good now. 90 points

2005 White Label Chardonnay - Masses of spicy smokey oak and plenty of pineapple and melon fruit underneath. Rich palate with a solid floor of spicy timber but fruit to match. Soft clean acid. Well structured and very long. Not to my tastes but will be to many. 92 points

2004 White Label Chardonnay - Spicy smokey oak with peach and grapefruit. Savoury spicy oak flavours on the palate with peach and citrus fruit and a little dollop of cream. 88 points

2003 White Label Chardonnay - Smokey spicy oak, peach and some nutty development showing. Rich spicy palate with peach fruit. Perhaps drying out a bit. Ready now. 87 points.

I should note that the bracket of white label chardonnays were served very cold which shows the oak up more than usual. Overall a very good range of wines and excellent value for money too. I think the 2006 White Label semillon is a very exciting debut. The quality of the legendary Sunshine vineyard already making itself known.

Match of the day
…and then on to Hunter Valley Gardens to watch the game. The Reds started in flying form popping down two tries within a number of minutes much to the shock of the Wallabies and the delight of the crowd. You could almost hear the Wallabies thinking…hang on this is not supposed to happen and they stepped up the intensity and pace of the game. The end result being a 49 - 19 point victory to the Wallabies. The final score does not really reflect how well the Reds played. It was a tough game from start to finish.

Many thanks to Scarborough for putting on such a great weekend. Perfect execution and all done with great style and a minimum of fuss - as is the Scarborough way.