TN 1971 Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet Shiraz.

[Michael McNally]

1971 Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet Shiraz. 738ml. Cork. Alcohol not listed.

Bought this at auction last year as 71 is my wife’s birth year. Just a ($35) punt. It is Yasmin’s birthday Wednesday, but we opened this last night as we didn’t want to take it out to a restaurant.

Some label damage. Virtually no ullage. The cork has a plastic cap over the top and a capsule which partly covers the cap, with a pull down then around plastic section tearaway like on a soy sauce bottle. Never seen one on a bottle of wine before. No leakage around the (soft) cork which comes out in one piece/pull. Seepage up the sides of the cork virtually to the top. The cork has a whiff of vinegar, which concerns me. Poured into the decanter at 7pm. Clear light tawny red/brown. Very little sediment. Slightly porty nose with a fair whack of bottle stink. Very little fruit on the nose, but mainly old wood.

After an hour or so the sink blows off and the wine appears. Mainly tertiary characters dominate with a meaty, leathery palate. But there is fruit there too with plum and some berry. There is still bright acid on the finish, which is long and soft. This wine continued to improve in the decanter. The body went from light to medium, and the fruit came out more, with soy and tobacco leaf flavours joining the old wood, leather and spice.

Loved the brown (738 ml!) bottle itself. There is a subscript on the front label which says “of Dalgety Wine Estates”. It also incorporates the percentages of the cabernet (64%) and the shiraz (36%) on the front. The “About the Wine” section on the back label it says, “Both the Cabernet and the Shiraz grapes were grown in our vineyards at Angaston. Following 2 years maturation in large oak, this ……. (wine?) was further matured in oak puncheons ……….. months. Bottled in February 1974. Showing excellent balance of fruit and wo….. (wood?) with the Cabernet Sauvignon character dominant. 1971 was considered a truly great year and we consider this to be a classic wine of outstanding quality.”

Yasmin was surprised that a wine that opened so dubiously could end up being such a lovely, soft aged wine. Not having experienced much wine older than 10 years I too was surprised as I thought this an excellent old red. It was one punt that definitely came off.

[Nayan]

Thanks for the note Mike. 71 was my birthyear too, but I haven't had the success with finding drinkable wines from this vintage. Sounds like you got a good 'un.

[Shiraz Shane]

Very Interesting Mike. Based on the winemakers cellar notes of today's vintages of Mamre Brooke you would think it would have been long gone. It's given me confidence to store my stock a little longer.
Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet (in particular) is still my pick for the best value premium wine on the market and it's been that way for the last 5 years, although the Kirrihill Clare 2001 Cab Sauv gave it a bit of a nudge. I don't think you can buy the MB Cabernet Shiraz these days but my brother picked up a magnum (1.5l) from DM's a couple of years ago. If you see any about let me know. Cheers

[GraemeG]

Very Interesting Mike. Based on the winemakers cellar notes of today's vintages of Mamre Brooke you would think it would have been long gone. It's given me confidence to store my stock a little longer.
Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet (in particular) is still my pick for the best value premium wine on the market and it's been that way for the last 5 years, although the Kirrihill Clare 2001 Cab Sauv gave it a bit of a nudge. I don't think you can buy the MB Cabernet Shiraz these days but my brother picked up a magnum (1.5l) from DM's a couple of years ago. If you see any about let me know. Cheers

I don't think you should extrapolate the aging behaviour of the 05 MB based on the performance of the 71. It will have been made from different vineyards, by different people, using different techniques. The only thing the same is the name. And the changes would have begun in the late 70s!
cheers,
Graeme

[Gary W]

Thanks for the note Mike. 71 was my birthyear too, but I haven't had the success with finding drinkable wines from this vintage. Sounds like you got a good 'un.

71 St Henri is pretty bloody good.
GW

[cuttlefish]

Very Interesting Mike. Based on the winemakers cellar notes of today's vintages of Mamre Brooke you would think it would have been long gone. It's given me confidence to store my stock a little longer.
Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet (in particular) is still my pick for the best value premium wine on the market and it's been that way for the last 5 years, although the Kirrihill Clare 2001 Cab Sauv gave it a bit of a nudge. I don't think you can buy the MB Cabernet Shiraz these days but my brother picked up a magnum (1.5l) from DM's a couple of years ago. If you see any about let me know. Cheers

I don't think you should extrapolate the aging behaviour of the 05 MB based on the performance of the 71. It will have been made from different vineyards, by different people, using different techniques. The only thing the same is the name. And the changes would have begun in the late 70s!
cheers,
Graeme

Yeah, but do you think they ever expected us to be drinking their '71 in 2008 ?
Put down some of your '05's, who knows what they might be like in 30 years ?

I recently had a '68 Mildara Cabernet that played out almost identically to this '71 wine. Totally soaked cork, vinegary aromas that worried me at first, then blew off, and the wine got better and better in the decanter. Soft, aged, and in remarkably good nick. You never really know what these wines are going to turn out like, but there's only one way to find out...
One of the joys of wine drinking and collecting, eh ?

[Shiraz Shane]

I agree! I think you can learn a lot about a wines potential through hearing the experiences of others. I recently opened a 1984 Wolf Blass Black Label for my brother that had be moved around from house to house (and probably spent a couple of months in the back of his car) with no special storage conditions and it was superb and I daresay would have got better if we'd waited longer to drink it after opening it. The only prob was managing to gently expouge the remaining half of the cork from the bottle.

[Nayan]

Thanks for the note Mike. 71 was my birthyear too, but I haven't had the success with finding drinkable wines from this vintage. Sounds like you got a good 'un.

71 St Henri is pretty bloody good.
GW

So I understand from a tasting note by Jordan a while back; I think he outbid me on it at auction

[BHCC]

"Bought this at auction last year as 71 is my wife’s birth year"

How fortunate to have 1971 as a birth year, it was a great vintage throughout South Australia. Some examples tasted over the past 2 years that have confirmed its longevity include the Penfolds Grange & 389, Lindemans Limestone Ridge (first vintage I think) and a stunning Reynella Cabernet.

Those old enough to remember may also recall that Dalgety had diversified its business and not only acquired Saltram but also Stonyfell. However these were the days when Mamre Brook and Metala were premium wines and well before the brands were taken down market by subsequent owners.