I feel a bit lame for not writing up more local wines, so consider this an assuagement of my sense of guilt as much as anything else. Still, my notes on Full Pour are in large part a reflection of what I choose to drink for pleasure, and the reality is I haven’t explored Queensland wines to any significant extent. Not to diminish this particular wine before I’ve even started, of course. Here we have a straight Cabernet from the Granite Belt region, produced by one of its oldest wineries.
There are some distinctive things happening on the nose here; quite a strong smell of turned earth and dusty red fruits in addition to more typically Cabernet aromas of leafiness and dark berries. The fruit character strikes me as quite ripe, a bit stewed even, and the earth notes aren’t squeaky clean, but the whole is expressive, generous and quite fun.
Stewed fruit is more evident in the mouth, robbing the wine of a sense of freshness and varietal character. If you can get past this, though, there’s certainly some enjoyment to be had. Despite relatively assertive tannins, the structure of this wine is loose, flavour tending to collapse onto the tongue in a generous but messy wave. Perhaps it’s my mood, but the flavour profile as a whole seems tangled, and I’m having trouble resolving the individual elements in amongst a crowded, yet indistinct, mass of elements. The after palate thins somewhat, allowing a bit of heat to emerge on the finish.
I’m tasting this wine critically, so it’s probably fair to say the observations I’ve made will matter very little to someone looking for a flavoursome dry red to throw back on a weekday evening. In this functional role it performs admirably.
Ballandean Estate
Price: $A14.25
Closure: Cork
There are, IMHO, better Cabernets from the Garnite Belt, but the general regional form (oh no, I’m getting Platonic!) seems to be in place from your TN. Not so clean earth, tannic, ripe (they fear green qualities on the Belt- almost to the point of being phobic). Often a bit stewed but the best avoid that. Pretty big wines for the most part.
At least that’s my experience, FWIW. Don’t understand why they don’t play around more and blend with Merlot and Petit Verdot. But, I’m not a winemaker 🙂
cheers
j
Hey Jeremy, thanks for the regional intelligence. Do I detect the suggestion of an overarching narrative? 😉
J.
Oh, that would be Granite not Garnite. The Garnite Belt Cabernets are totally different 😉
Basic reader response theory. I write, you interpret. You know I don’t claim to own Lacan’s symbolic/language 😀
j