TN: 1998 Rosemount Estates Cabernet Mudgee (?)

[tjaehnigen]

3/29/03

TJ Rating 86

(my notes are a little cryptic on the name of this so this is a guess)

Had this at the VC Rocks @Equinox event on 3/29/03.

Medium, to medium dark color. I got the sense of cherries jubilee -- why I thought this was California wine, I do not know but that is what was scribbled on my TN sheet. This wine was fairly 'thick' and, at first I could not sense this descriptior (cough syrup), but once I had some food with it, I could see it. Pretty nice finish to wrap things up.

[Andre]

Try the Ruthbery Estate Mudgee.

It will be interesting to compare.

[hotle]

tj,

how was the '98 holding up? also, have you had the '99? i've got some of the '99 and '00 (6 btls of each) in my 'cellar', and have stayed away from them......at last taste, they were over-the-top tannic. i'm also not sure about vintage variances, but i'm just trying to get a sense for how the rosemont mudgee 'style' translates into drinkability.

thanks for any thoughts,

matt

ps: thanks for the tn's!

[tjaehnigen]

It was good, but I think it might benefit from a bit more time in the bottle. Others at this dinner enjoyed it more than I did. It was a little tough for me to properly judge this one as it was like wine #9 or 10 of the evening ...

[Bond Girl]

Not that I know a damn thing about wine, but back in the stone ages when I was dating a wine collector, he used to serve Rosement is great quantities whenever we have large parties because it really has a great taste for the price.

[hotle]

bond girl,

the wine you're referring to is (probably) the 'basic' rosemont shiraz black label. i've enjoyed this wine for quite a while, but in the more recent vintages, i've not been as happy with it. one thing i WAS happy with was about 2 years ago, when i 'discovered' 6 bottles of '94 or '95 that i'd forgotten about in my 'cellar'. i opened one, thinking i was about to find out it was well past its prime, but instead, had a very lovely, very drinkable wine. don't know how much longer it'd have gone, but the 4 years or so didn't hurt it.

the wine i THINK tj's talking about is the 'one step up' mudgee ('hills of gold', i think?). whereas the regular black-label is about 8 bucks, this runs between 15 and 20. when i bought the '99, i enjoyed it, but the tannins were really strong, so i put it away.

matt

.......who also doesn't know a damn about wine, other than i like it!

edit: to my shame, i also realize now we're talking about the cab, not the shiraz. sorry......

Edited July 22, 2003 by hotle (log)

[tjaehnigen]

Correct, hotle, indeed.

[Bond Girl]

I think it is the cab because they are about $18 a bottle but that was about 4 years ago. I can't drink beyond one glass of wine but I do like the way the rosemont cabs tasted.