Majella Cabernet Vertical 1994 - 2006

[Irregular]

Majella Cabernet Vertical

I was fortunate to participate in a vertical tasting of Majella Cabernet 1994-2006 with nine others at Asiana last week. It was the perfect evening. Wines were provided by some of those attending with the balance coming direct from the winery, thank you for looking after us Prof.

We decided to break the wines into 4 flights and commenced with Majella Sparkling Shiraz. This juicy stuff is a great drink and perfect to commence a dinner with. Vibrant, lively, rich and alive. One of my favourite sparkling reds.

It’s fair to say there was widespread difference in regard to personal best wines in each flight and indeed for the evening. What was unanimous amongst us however was the consistency of the wines irrespective of vintage, a couple of comments “consistency of style across all vintages was impressive - dare I say "Penfolds like" (consistency not style)” and “The performance of the "lesser vintages" was a highlight, indeed the 97 was my fave for the night (not necessarily the best wine, just the one I liked the most on the night)”

While we had among us an individual who is way better than the rest of us at note taking, he informed us he was "having a night off" – fair enough I suppose, so the notes below are rough, and mostly my impressions. The wines were opened just prior to dinner and not decanted, which would no doubt have benefited the younger vintages.

Flight 1
1994 Majella Cabernet Beautiful nose, still deep red, no browning, soft, flavoursome – elegant, fantastic finish, capsicum, classic Coonawarra. This was my favourite of the flight. A beauty.

1995 Majella Cabernet More muted on the nose than the 94, good colour again, no browning, fully integrated, soft on the palate, very good wine.

1996 Majella Cabernet This is a big wine. Not much happening on the nose here. Bigger, fuller wine, complex, loads of life left in this baby to be sure, it’s a huge, brooding wine. I think this will sit on its plateau for some time yet and may even improve a little.

Group ranking of Flight 1 1994 – 5, 1996 – 5
We enjoyed the spicy calamari with this flight and it was soooo good.

Flight 2
1997 Majella Cabernet Well bugger me, wasn’t this supposed to be a crap year! There’s a truck load of mixed spice in here, an excellent wine, great with food, there’s a lot going on with this wine and to think it comes from such a maligned year. I like it a lot and it’s drinking perfectly right now, very balanced, very enjoyable. A wine to get stuck into, no need to hang on to this baby much longer. A delight.

1998 Majella Cabernet We were all looking forward to this one, from a great Coonawarra vintage it comes with a big reputation and we have high expectations – we were not disappointed. It’s got a lovely nose and deep dark brilliant colour. This wine is the biggest we’ve had thus far. It has a solid tannin structure and a super long, lingering finish. It’s great, but it’s not ready, in fact it’s nowhere near ready to drink, give this at least another 5 years at least. In fact I’d love to try it at it’s peak in about 10 years time. It’s destined to become a classic, but not yet!

1999 Majella Cabernet The only controversial wine of the evening – there was a suggestion of taint, I didn’t think it was faulty and I’m sensitive to it. One amongst us, with a finer palate than me, considered it was just ever so slightly corked, the rest of us didn’t detect it and in any event, it didn’t detract from the wine. This is yet another tannic, big fella, in fact it’s a massive big bodied boy, think of the Barry Hall on steroids, not fast, not overly pretty or elegant, but very good. Another wine to surprise us.

Group ranking of Flight 2 1997 – 6, 1998 – 2, 1999 – 2
I think we had Quail with this flight (I may have the food for Flights 2 & 3 around the wrong way?), another great dish, although I must confess I hate ‘fighting’ for my food (carcass!)

Flight 3
It was around now where I found the note taking difficult, due more to the consistency and similarity of the wines, not the quantity I’d consumed (that would kick in later!) hence these are combined notes.

2000 Majella Cabernet Magenta in colour, herbaceous on the nose at the first pour, but over time opening up, a subtle hint of oak and plums. I really liked this one, had heaps going for it.

2001 Majella Cabernet Cherry and chocolate up front, tannins are clearly evident, somewhat astrinsic and needs a good 10 years to show its best.

2002 Majella Cabernet Another wine with something of a reputation, as indeed are all those to follow. An almost confronting nose, powerful, it’s a faint though as it’s much smoother and inviting on the palate than the nose suggests. Long lasting in the mouth, brilliant flavour and length, a wine to savour.

Group ranking of Flight 3 2000 – 4, 2001 – 1, 2002 – 5
Served with Peking Duck – just bring me more, this is divine.

Flight 4
Ok, it got particularly difficult at this stage, such fresh, vibrant wines, they were like shock troops storming our palate trenches after the earlier, subtle, rounded, balanced and more integrated wines. Don’t misunderstand, these are good wines, in fact they are very, very good, but they need time to fully reveal themselves.

2003 Majella Cabernet Sorry, I have no notes for this wine other than “such a consistent flight’.

2004 Majella Cabernet Um, sorry, no notes again.

2005 Majella Cabernet My pathetic note taking effort goes – Big, best of the four on the nose, classic in the making.

2006 Majella Cabernet This wasn’t my note, but dropped onto my sheet by one of the others, it reads “Rooted” this is not a reference to the wine, rather, a reference to the condition we now found our palates in. I really liked this wine and for me it was just a nose ahead of the 2005, but that’s really splitting hairs, in reality, they are both stunners and will clearly follow in their predecessors footsteps and become wonderful to drink.

Group ranking of Flight 4 2003 – 4, 2004 – 1, 2005 – 3, 2006 – 2
We finished with the beef for the last flight, so tender, in a rich sauce, it went perfectly with the more powerful wines in this flight.

Foolishly, we ended up back at my place where we downed a couple of Hanging Rock Heathcote Shiraz’s, Classic Clare Cabernet and something else!!

All in all a truly fantastic evening and once again, thank you Prof and Bruce for producing such iconic wines, there wasn’t a single wine which any of us said we didn’t like, not a bad effort across 13 vintages from a single vineyard site. Majella, if it already isn’t, is destined to become amongst the best in the country.

Epilogue
A quote from one of the attendees “The soothing and healing qualities of the wines was something I hadn't realised before. Last night was the first night since the markets shat themselves that I have slept through - Thanks Prof!”

cheers
Ian

[Red Bigot]

Ian, thanks for the write-up. Majella re one of the most consistent producers around and with their prices hardly rising in 10 years they are one of the few on my "almost automatic buy" list, I only passed on the 2002.

I don't understand though how your palate could be "rooted" after only 13-14 wines, that's really not many in separate flights with food. Was it the food that affected the palate or did you just not spit enough in the early stages?

[Irregular]

Ian, thanks for the write-up. Majella re one of the most consistent producers around and with their prices hardly rising in 10 years they are one of the few on my "almost automatic buy" list, I only passed on the 2002.

I don't understand though how your palate could be "rooted" after only 13-14 wines, that's really not many in separate flights with food. Was it the food that affected the palate or did you just not spit enough in the early stages?

Spit, are you crazy RB, there was no way I was going to spit
Actually, I think it was the 2 bottles of sparkling we shared at the start which started the train wreck

But seriously, it was more a case of the smooth, elegant wines shaping our palates then being 'hit' with the fuller, bigger, current wines, the last 3 or 4 were so similar. Like puppies and babies, they are yet to develope their own personalities.

[Rawshack]

Good post and some interesting notes. Coonawarra Cabernet is something that I'm still getting to terms with, but Majella seem to be considered a pillar of consistency.

[Roscoe]

Thanks for the notes. I'm very fond of Coonawarra Cabs- I was always a Wynns BL man, but turned to Majella in the early noughties. Very fine wine IMHO.

[Attila]

Majella Cabernet Vertical


2004 Majella Cabernet Um, sorry, no notes again.


cheers
Ian

Ian, get yourself together as I was EXTREMELY interested in your note on this vintage which is in my cellar.
Can anyone who recently tried and reading this, post a tasting note on the 2004?

Cheers,
Attila

[Irregular]

My apologies Attila, I confess, I’m slack. Take comfort though, the current wines are all travelling very well however, on the night, the 2005 & 2006 showed better. Try Winefront for a more detailed review of the 2004.

I’m also a firm believer that many Cabernets enters a ‘don’t drink’ phase from around 3-7 years of age, hence the 2004 was starting with a handicap. As previously mentioned, of every Cabernet ever produced by Majella there was not a single poor wine amongst them.