Tag Archives: Cabernet Sauvignon

Ross Hill Pinnacle Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

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Quite an intense, attention grabbing nose full of fruit, leaf and spice. It’s recognisably Cabernet in terms of fruit but also in its angular muscularity; this is not a cuddly aroma profile. Its relative fullness and power reminds me of another recently tasted Orange Cabernet, the Swinging Bridge. If this is where the region’s Cabernets are heading then I am all in flavour. What this doesn’t have, though, is an especially elegant demeanor, nor does it possess that last ounce of definition. Still, I like the way it smells.

The palate is clean and lean, not in terms of lacking flavour (quite the opposite) but in its tight run down the tongue. This is not an expansive wine, at least not yet, and its expression remains focused and brisk. The fruit is dark and varietal, if lacking some detail. The one moment it allows itself to relax a little is towards the back of the mouth, where flavour fans out through the finish. There is a substantial oak influence, and its sappy character comes across as slightly raw. That, combined with a firm acid structure, make this a more challenging drink now than I suspect it will be in five or so years’ time. Some heat mars the finish by stripping the fruit flavours somewhat.

Very young, this needs to loosen up a bit before it will be truly enjoyable. I hope the oak steps back in time and allows the impressively intense, quite delicious fruit to shine.

Ross Hill Wines
Price: $A40
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Jacob’s Creek St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

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A blast from the relatively recent past, this 2008 Coonawarra Cabernet comes later than most of its brethren, even those at the premium end.

I’m struggling with this wine a bit, because it seems to have set off a sulfur reaction in my respiratory tract that has me coughing between sniffs. Through all the sputtering, a well defined aroma profile emerges, which includes mint, spice, dark fruit, leaf and other goodies. It’s a correct, ripe aroma profile, showing the hot 2008 vintage quite clearly, as do most of the other 2008 Coonawarra Cabernets I have tasted. If I’ve a criticism, it’s that this is a little bland and tilted towards fruit sweetness, lacking the element of angularity that I feel a good Cabernet from this region ought to have.

The palate is again well built but certainly a product of its vintage, with very ripe, sweet fruit and the sort of tannin structure best described as blobby (though very fine too). Immediate flavour on entry, becoming more expansive through the middle palate. The fruit is sweet and so is the oak,  the overall impression being one of generosity but not finesse and certainly not savouriness. Having said that, this will be very appealing to lots of people for its fleshiness and relative ease. The after palate and finish are of a decent length, and there’s a welcome hit of Cabernet leaf on the finish.

Quite a long way from what I like to drink, but a well judged wine for mass appeal.

Jacob’s Creek
Price: $49.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Swinging Bridge Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

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Now we’re talking. Although a youngster — somewhat gangly and awkward for now — this wine is stylistically resolved in a way the companion Shiraz isn’t.

The aroma is distinctly Cabernet but in a way I’ve not smelled before. The signature aromas of the varietal are there — clean dark fruits, heady crushed leaf — in addition to some pretty sexy cedar oak. But there’s a richness to the fruit that smells distinctive, and a hint of black pepper that seems to have wandered in, happily, from an adjoining Shiraz ferment. As I mentioned, it’s a bit disjointed at the moment, but I suspect it will converge on something more poised with a few months in bottle.

The palate is appropriately powerful, and what stands out most is a satisfyingly tannic structure. Three cheers for Cabernet that is not afraid to be both medium bodied and astringently bold through the finish. Flavours are very much per the nose, squeaky clean and vivid. There is perhaps a slight lack of subtlety to the flavour profile, though one might equally praise its vivacity and punch. Fabulously fine, abundant tannins descend through the after palate and become the centrepiece of the wine as it winds its way to a lengthy finish.

A distinctive and delicious wine. An ounce of extra refinement wouldn’t go astray, but I like the direction this is taking.

Swinging Bridge
Price: $A45
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Second Nature Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2010

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This, Dowie Doole’s second label red, has been a reliable visitor to my house over the last few years. It’s invariably drinkable and full of flavour, showing the best face of a quaffer with surprisingly few compromises. It’s not a rarified wine in provenance or intent, but it’s usually tasty, which is quite enough to please me, most days.

The 2010 red is an especially good release. It’s so easy, so juicy, so luxurious. The nose is warm and fully fruited, showing red and black fruits embedded in a comfortingly spiced lattice. The vibe is plush and generous, as it always is with this wine, but what lifts this vintage above most is its quiet balance. This is, despite the style, a gentle wine, almost delicate in its placement. Totally unforced, this wine doesn’t so much prompt extended sniffing as it does a taste, and quick.

My lack of patience is repaid with a mouthful of easy flavour. Entry prickles a bit with acid, ushering bright red fruit onto the middle palate, where it is joined by some extra layers of fruit flavour as well as spice and soft oak. Intensity is impressive for a wine at this price point, as is the flavour profile’s avoidance of easy sweetness. There’s sweet fruit, for sure, but overall the profile tilts towards savouriness, without sacrificing drinkability. The after palate is slightly muted, while the finish rises strongly with spice, some edgy oak and more dark fruit.

I have long admired Dowie Doole wines for their ease and lack of pretension. As lovely as the higher priced labels can be, I think this producer’s particular stylistic biases mean its everyday quaffer, this wine, stands above the crowd.

Dowie Doole
Price: $A19
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Stockman's Ridge Outlaw Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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I was quite taken with this wine’s Shiraz-based sibling; its styling was distinctive and communicated something new about Shiraz and Orange. But then, I’m forgiving of Shiraz and its stylistic diversity. For some reason, I have firmer views on what Cabernet “should” taste like, preferring more angular, crisper expressions of this grape.

Smelling this wine, my heart leapt and then quickly sank. Ah yes, there’s some leaf, dust, capsicum even, rising out of the aroma profile with exuberance and the same muscularity shown by the Shiraz. But then a thick, dark wave of fruit washes under and over the high toned aromatics, bringing the wine into “big red” territory and, for a moment, robbing me of the sort of Cabernet pleasure I was just getting ready to enjoy. Interestingly, as I’ve continued to smell the wine, I feel more and more it is a legitimate expression of the varietal, different from both our classic cooler and warmer climate styles. Some finessing, though, is required. For starters, the oak intrudes far too prominently for my tastes, pushing a high powered gloss into the wine that feels inappropriate. It’s also hot and less than resolved. However, it has a charisma and an integrity that draws me back.

The palate echoes this story. Quite aggressive on entry and full of flavour, this moves briskly to the middle palate and opens out with dark, very ripe fruit. There’s an edginess to the palate structure that amplifies the character of the oak, creating a focus that may seem at odds with the  fruit. If I’m making it seem all over the place, then perhaps it is a little, and it’s not up to the same standard as the Shiraz. Yet it’s a serious wine, aiming for something particular, if unsure how to quite get there. I think the fruit here would work best in a less blustery style, focusing on the intricacies of the flavours rather than dressing up as a self-consciously “reserve” wine.

Stockman’s Ridge
Price: $A35
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Château de Sours Réserve de Sours Sparkling Rosé NV

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I’m not sure how active the market is for French sparklers at this price point; certainly, I don’t remember ever setting out to purchase a sparking wine from Bordeaux made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. And yet here we are.

What’s really nice about this wine is that it’s defiantly different in aroma and flavour profile from Champagne and its many imitators. There’s no mistaking the Cabernet at its heart; the aroma shows characteristic leafy overtones and a cool, red fruited core. It’s savoury at heart, though lacking the sorts of complexities that are par for the course in even moderately good Champagne. This is quite a different beast, simpler and fresher-smelling. The defining characteristic of the palate is its relatively soft acidity, something that one can’t take for granted in local sparklers at this price point.

Entry is immediate and fresh, again with leafy Cabernet notes dominating the flavour profile at first. Light, crisp berry juice glides over the middle palate with ease, if not intensity. It’s fairly light on the spritz as these things go; what there is contributes to a lively mouthfeel that is only one or two steps removed from a bright Riesling. A nice, fresh, leafy finish.

One of the more different sparkling wines I’ve had of late; certainly, I prefer this to some of the aromatic white sparkling wines that are becoming more common. There’s something jarring about a recognisably Cabernet rosé sparkling – I like it.

Château de Sours
Price: $A28
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

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Trawling back through the Full Pour archives, I see I never wrote this up on release, which was rather remiss of me. This wine brought me back to Wynns Black Label, and I remember enjoying its generosity and correctness at the time. Tasting it again now, the impression remains one of correctness and regional character.

The nose is immediately varietal, showing oodles of the (to me) deliciously leafy side of Coonawarra Cabernet, if also a tad too much oak to be considered totally balanced at this point. Beyond this, a surge of clean cassis emerges through the aroma profile along with an edge of blackberries, edging past fully ripe into jammy territory. Not distractingly so, though; just enough to suggest a fairly generous interpretation of this regional style.

The palate resists outsize scale, instead remaining fairly linear. Flavour registers early on entry, dark fruits cascading over the tongue towards a mellifluous middle palate that sings briefly before fine, chalky tannins assert themselves. This isn’t even close to being a fully resolved wine, which befits the style but also means tannin freaks, like me, will still find plenty to enjoy here, even after several years of bottle age. The after palate continues in this structured vein, fruit compressed somewhat as a result, before a lengthy, oak-driven finish rounds off the line. Clean, sinewy, restrained; this is Cabernet very much in the classic mould, a hint of extra-ripe fruit the only question mark over its form.

Very, very good.

Wynns
Price: $A30
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Mount Avoca Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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Though its Shiraz wines can be of the highest quality, and tend to hog the limelight, my view is that Cabernet Sauvignon from the Pyrenees is seriously undervalued. It often combines a muscular structure with the sort of clear, supple fruit character that draws you right in. This wine from Mount Avoca exemplifies these qualities, and is well-priced to boot. What’s not to like?

The nose rings with clear, clean cassis fruit character, flanked by a bit of minty goodness and brown, textural oak. The more I swirl and sniff this wine, the greater the influence of that brown, earthy character, which creeps over the fruit and warms it through. It’s a remarkably coherent aroma profile for such a young wine, though it’s equally clear this is a raw beast, leaking undigested primary aromas in all directions. Still, there’s the beginnings of some focus and elegance here, and I suspect once the wine rests it will present even more impressively. As it is, full of potential and certainly not unenjoyable.

The palate is just all about structure at the moment, and whether you enjoy it as a young wine may depend mostly on your tolerance for acid and tannin. That’s not to suggest there’s no flavour or that it’s completely overpowered; indeed, there’s a strong, firm core of dark fruit that runs in a rather compressed line right the way along. But structure keeps it all in check, perhaps too firmly for now, suggesting some time in bottle is required. There’s a lovely gravel-like texture and flavour here, like licking berry-covered asphalt on a hot day. It’s the highlight of a flavour profile that is very correct and ultra-clean. Also notable is this wine’s length, which seems to springboard off all those tannins and carries a ribbon of crisp berry flavour right through the back palate.

This wine would be impressive at $35; at its recommended retail price, it’s a no brainer.

Mount Avoca
Price: $A27
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Kirrihill Tullymore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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They’re hardly fashionable, but I do like a good Clare Valley red now and then. Back in the day, and like many wine lovers of my generation I suppose, I cut my teeth on well-priced Clare reds from makers like Annie’s Lane. As a consequence, I have a soft spot for the somewhat rustic character a lot of reds from this region can show. Here we have a single vineyard wine, well priced at $19, from maker Kirrihill.

The nose is gentle and clean, with aromas of old nougat oak, blackcurrant, crushed leaf and some pencil shavings. It’s not especially complex, but it is well integrated and, in profile, quite pretty. It’s also a bit wan, and I wish it had just a bit more bite, less polish, more sex. As it is, the aroma is tentative and too softly-spoken.

The palate is a bit more satisfying thanks to a really attractive mouthfeel that modulates between loose knit tannins and a line of crunchy acid, tossing the wine into various corners of the mouth with a nice sense of liveliness. Flavours take a while to gather steam, peaking on the middle palate with a burst of bright red fruit and sweet oak. Though it’s not a big wine, it feels generous and warm, giving everything it’s got to the drinker.

Not a bad wine then, showing decent character on the palate in particular.

Kirrihill
Price: $A19
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Karra Yerta Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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One of the benefits of writing a not-for-profit wine blog is that I can skew my tasting towards wines and producers in which I have a particular interest. So, when this wine arrived today, it shot straight to the top of the sample pile and indeed was quickly opened when I sat down to taste. I’ve enjoyed all the Karra Yerta wines I’ve tasted, to varying degrees of course, and I believe this is the first straight Cabernet I’ve tried from this producer. Grapes are sourced from High Eden, thirty two cases produced.

I was half expecting the down-home, earthy style I’ve enjoyed so much in Karra Yerta’s Shiraz and Shiraz Cabernet wines, but this is a different beast, stylistically. The nose is positively squeaky with bright fruit and high toned aromas. I don’t look to Barossa Cabernet for (what I consider) varietal character, and I’m not getting a lot of the cooler climate leaf and cassis typical of, say, Coonawarra Cabernet. In its place, a simpler and more accessible aroma profile, with edges of well-judged nougat oak.

The palate was initially both disjointed and confected, and for a moment I thought this might be the first Karra Yerta wine that disagreed with me. But just a few minutes of air has seen this really come together with dramatically increased complexity and a satisfying, acid-driven structure. It’s a fundamentally bright, crowd-pleasing wine in style, though, and may not be everyone’s idea of Cabernet. No matter – entry shows a gentle attack that builds quickly to a red fruited middle palate, all riding nicely textural acidity. Oak is a discernible yet subtle influence throughout, contributing vanilla and nougat in turn. The after palate gently darkens in profile before a soft, lightly tannic finish rounds things off.

Karra Yerta Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample