Two things to note up front regarding this wine: it doesn’t smell or taste much like Cabernet, and I’ve personally struggled with it over two days of tasting. From which some readers may conclude it’s a bad wine, or that I don’t like it, neither of which is necessarily the case. It is atypical and difficult. It’s also oddly compelling and quite drinkable.
Starting with the nose: nougat-heavy, somewhat malty oak flavours cushion red, plum-like fruits and an odd tarry note. It’s very expressive in its way, though the aroma profile is angular and overwhelming in equal measure. It reminds me of a woolen blanket you’ve just taken out of storage; promising comfort but giving off strange smells that are both familiar and difficult to love.
In the mouth – plenty of flavour for sure. A rush of confectionary red fruit alongside a slightly raw, twiggy note, plus the aforementioned coal tar. In form, it’s quite uncontrolled, lurching this way and that, swelling on the middle palate and turning suddenly towards a thinner expression through the after palate. It’s also charismatic and a bit of a wag. Some heat on the finish seems oddly appropriate.
What to make of this? Bad vintage? Perhaps, though in terms of wine appreciation, that strikes me as a cop-out. Still, its aesthetics defeat me; you may have better luck.
Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample
Don’t admit defeat, just give it a low score and admit that you wouldn’t buy a bottle yourself 🙂 (isn’t that what people want to read anyway)
But you do that sort of thing so much better than me, Andrew 🙂
was the wine clumsy
Hi Troy,
A little, perhaps. It would be a great wine for the options game at our next residential school, though 😉
Julian.