Old Seppelts red
Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 12:50 pm
Had a pleasant experience on Friday night when a friend brought over a bottle of Seppelts 1976 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Winemaker K Rebbeck.
Cork was very soft and when I pulled the corkscrew out all I got was the centre of the cork. Looked as thought the cork itself had stuck to the bottle so I just poured the wine out through the hole in the centre of the cork.
Initially quite woofy with mushroomy bouquet but after about 20 mins it cleaned up nicely leaving a soft, savoury palate with excellent tannin structure (which probably accounts for it lasting 31 years!) After an hour the mushroom flavours gave way for chocolate, tar and even some faint primary fruit flavours of black currant. 24 hours later there was still one glass left in the bottle which had been exposed to air all night and day. Surprisingly the wine was in even better nick now!
Excellent fruit (blackcurrant) and tannin balance. Interestingly the front label notes read "This classic wine grape produces a very complex wine. The range of tastes is the greatest offered by any red. A pleasant astringency from the full tannin and wood lingers lightly on the palate." And it is still lingering 31 years on. I was never a huge fan of Seppelts reds in the 70s and 80s but I must have missed this one.
Cork was very soft and when I pulled the corkscrew out all I got was the centre of the cork. Looked as thought the cork itself had stuck to the bottle so I just poured the wine out through the hole in the centre of the cork.
Initially quite woofy with mushroomy bouquet but after about 20 mins it cleaned up nicely leaving a soft, savoury palate with excellent tannin structure (which probably accounts for it lasting 31 years!) After an hour the mushroom flavours gave way for chocolate, tar and even some faint primary fruit flavours of black currant. 24 hours later there was still one glass left in the bottle which had been exposed to air all night and day. Surprisingly the wine was in even better nick now!
Excellent fruit (blackcurrant) and tannin balance. Interestingly the front label notes read "This classic wine grape produces a very complex wine. The range of tastes is the greatest offered by any red. A pleasant astringency from the full tannin and wood lingers lightly on the palate." And it is still lingering 31 years on. I was never a huge fan of Seppelts reds in the 70s and 80s but I must have missed this one.