2003 Seppelt Moyston Cabernet Merlot - 13.5%
Bottle opened on Saturday 14th May 2005 and finished Sunday 15th May 2005. My impressions are based over this 24 hour period.
On the palate, the wine opens with dark, ripe brooding fruit reminding me very, very much of Bendigo Shiraz. Rich chocolate, ripe blackberry, some ripe red cherry and a hint of blackcurrant and rhubarb. Some dried green herbs reveal themselves after a little air contact. Good complexity for an obviously young wine. The interplay of oak with the fruit on the back palate creates a lovely savoury, mocha and caramel sensation, also enhancing the length of the wine. The palate displays only a little acid although the tannins reveal themselves on the middle and back palate with strength but they are ripe, reasonably fine and in balance with the powerful fruit, giving excellent length and also providing the authoritative structure that this wine requires to ensure the fruit is well controlled and able to gain a little needed depth as well as complexity in the medium term. This is a classy wine that would only be considered varietal by warm climate Cabernet lovers but is undoubtedly very enjoyable and a great value-for-money choice for anyone's cellar. 17.8/20, 92/100. Drink 2007 – 2015.
Adair