GRAND CRU CABERNET SAUVIGNON TASTING 20 APRIL 2016

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

This month’s Grand Cru tasting was slightly more specialised than usual. We traditionally nominate a grape variety or wine style, but in this case, we went competitive between two famous Cabernet wine regions – Margaret River and Coonawarra.

It’s interesting that Coonawarra reds were predominantly shiraz until cabernet plantings took hold (in the 50’s?) and this region became more famous for cabernet than shiraz. Margaret River, by comparison, was established on cabernet and chardonnay primarily (in the 60s and 70s), but over the past 10-15 years shiraz has become a significant variety. Cabernet still reigns in both regions, however.

We also undertook this tasting blind, although we identified the vintage prior to brown-paper-bagging the wines. Ten wines were served in order from youngest (2014) to oldest (1998), but the identity (and therefore the region) of each wine was unknown to the tasters. We voted on the region for each wine, but did not unmask them until the end of the tasting.
So, let’s get started:

The Bowen Estate 2014 (Coonawarra) divided the group from the start. The trademark Coonawarra mint was apparent to me from the outset (and to the group, as we all picked it as a Coonawarra wine). There’s also blackberries, rhubarb, menthol, and faint alcohol heat. The palate has fine tannins, sharp acidity, and noticeable astringency. It’s medium bodied, but a little short on the finish. Some tasters considered this well balanced, while some disagreed. I just thought it was way too young – drinking young cabernet is not always a pleasurable experience.

The next three wines were 2012’s – a good or great vintage in both regions.

The Yalumba ‘The Cigar’ 2012 (Coonawarra) shows blackcurrant, toasty vanillan oak, cocoa, coffee grounds, a hint of tobacco, and slight confectionery. The palate has grippy tannins, dark and red berries, and chocolate. It’s dense and well structured, very fruit driven, however, one taster mentioned a short finish. I’m not sure I agree, and I enjoyed this wine. Ironically, 55% of the tasters voted this as a Margaret River wine.

The Lindeman’s St George 2012 (Coonawarra) shows blackcurrant, blackberry, coffee grounds and hints of eucalypt. There’s also a little toasty oak. The fruit is rich but not over-ripe. The palate is tannic and has prominent acid, with blackberry fruit sweetness and some mocha. The finish shows red fruits, caramel and toffee. This also polarised the group, with some tasters considering this to be more elegant than previous wines, some considered it unbalanced, and there was discussion about the length of the finish.

The Dan Murphy cleanskin 2012 ($10) (Coonawarra, I think), showed a little blackcurrant and some dusty oak. Unfortunately, it ‘ponged’ – burnt rubber, medicinal notes and obvious reductive characters. The nose is also dry, dusty, and earthy, with very little fruit. The palate is acidic, with burnt caramel, and alcoholic heat. As this was a blind tasting, one of the group considered this was ‘too old for a 2012’. It turned out that age wasn’t the reason …..

The wine of the bracket was the Yalumba ‘The Cigar’ on a countback from the Lindemans St George.

The second and third brackets consisted of three wines each.

After a wine that was potentially too old, the Brand’s Laira 171 2010 (Coonawarra) was (at 6 years old) probably too young. Rich blackberry, cedary oak, dark fruits, and slight tomato leaf – it’s rich and dense. The palate has clean acid and dusty, grippy tannins. There’s also palate coating rich berry and mocha notes, with only slight alcohol heat. It’s a big wine, but balanced, with a long finish.

Chalice Bridge’s ‘The Chalice’ 2008 (Margaret River) was a fascinating wine, that evolved quite quickly in the glass. It started with smoke, capsicum and tomato leaf – as it opened up, there was pronounced tomato sauce / soup / jam, and it developed an overwhelmingly dominant red capsicum. Initially, the competing flavours were dancing across the palate, with red fruits, fine tannins, and supporting acid. Unfortunately, the palate fell away after 20 minutes and the wine changed entirely, finishing with some bitter almonds. One taster was still enthusiastic, but I think the rest of us didn’t share the love.

The Wynns Black Label 2008 (Coonawarra) showed well, and convincingly – hints of min, menthol and eucalypt. Some tobacco, coffee, Christmas cake, spices, tomato leaf, red lifted fruits, graphite and violets. The mint flows through the palate, supported by choc mint, clean acid, and modest fine tannins. One taster likened this to a left bank Bordeaux, but I think this could be stretching the comparison. Regardless, this was voted wine of the bracket.

The final three wines were:

Cape Mentelle 2004 (Margaret River). Dark chocolate, ripe plums, licorice, eucalypt. The fruit is ripe and lifted, with slight herbaceousness. The palate is satin-like, prominent glycerols and acid, with some cooked beetroot, spice and cloves. It is medium bodied, and falls away on the finish just a little.

We finished with a pair of 1998s
Wynns Black Label 1998 (Coonawarra). Unfortunately, after nurturing this bottle in my cellar for years, we found that the cork gods may have taken this bottle many years before. Some of the tasters talked about the characters lurking underneath the TCA, but I think they were just being polite – this was stuffed in a big way.

Balnaves Cabernet Merlot 1998 (Coonawarra). A ring in – it turns out the Merlot component was 17% (which means this wasn’t a Cabernet Sauvignon according to the 15% rule), and was slightly cloudy in appearance. There’s prunes, chocolate and some leather on the nose. The palate shows “Cadbury Fruit and Nut” chocolate with powdery tannins, good acid and glycerols, and pleasing secondary characters. This is a big, rich wine, despite the obvious development. It was wine of the bracket and Wine Of The Night.

So, on countback, it seems Coonawarra showed better than Margaret River in this Western Australian tasting. More importantly, it showed that decent Cabernet needs a few years to show its strengths.

Cheers
Allan

[AaronL]

That is a rather eclectic mix of wines. Thought the Cape Mentelle would have been a clear winner, but you never know on the night. And where's the parochialism, only 2 WA wines!

The Balnaves sounds like a bargain. These were being liquidated as part of the failed Heritage scheme for about $10 each

[Rocky]

Thanks Allan

Interesting read but i had to search for the MR entries.