As I have written about in an earlier post, riders taking part in the Graperide are given a complimentary bottle of Forrest Estate “100 Virgins” Pinot Noir at registration if they took part in the previous year’s event.
The “100 Virgins” refer to a group of women who have volunteered to manually crush grapes in a huge vat set up beside the event stage at prizegiving. The resulting juice is added to a larger pressing that is bottled under the Graperide 100 Virgins label, and given away the next year. The women get a t-shirt for their troubles, and access to showers to wash off (they end up covered head to foot in sticky grape juice).
I have ridden this event six years in a row now, and have built up a collection of these complimentary Pinot Noir wines. They aren’t the producer’s finest work, to be fair, and don’t benefit much from cellaring.
I brought along a 10th anniversary 100 Virgins 2013 bottle from the Pool Room to enjoy at the traditional Pot Luck Friday night pre-race dinner at Bings Motel – a “no-frills” establishment we delight in staying at.
The wine was nothing to write home about (and served in a tumbler – no wine glasses at Bings…). Red cordial is the best descriptor. It did taste a little better at home after 48 hours opened. Decanting obv. helped.
79 points.
At dinner on Saturday night at the Twelve Trees restaurant, L and I shared a bottle of Allan Scott Wallops Chardonnay 2014. This wine engaged all the senses – a complex wine with aromas of ripe stonefruit, oatmeal, warm toasty oak and herbs; a good line of acidity leading to a pleasant long and bitter finish.
90 points.
Interestingly, the latest vintage of the GR100VPN2015 tasted not bad…a young wine…but as the vines age, so the wine improves…
