2018 A. Rodda Cuvée de Chez

Community Tasting Note

wrote:

90 Points

Saturday, July 10, 2021 - This note made a day after opening, no decant. Score is based on the Cellar Tracker system and indicates a wine on the cusp between very good and excellent.

Beechworth and Cabernet strikes me as potentially high reward, but also high risk - the grape ripens later in the season and I always feel it needs a lot of things to come together to get the grapes and, especially, the tannins ripe. I love Cabernet, but the tendency to lean and mean and green has to be respected. Last night my sense was that that this wine had come up trumps on this score. Tonight I have just a small note of hesitancy.

Colour is magenta, a wonderful purple-red. Very deep, bordering on inky.

There's a wonderful fragrance and lift to this wine on the nose. Violets, something bigger and sweeter - raspberry and dark red roses, a note of liquorice, some herbs. Complex and attractive.

The palate delivers sweet berry fruits, almost compote, along with liquorice and alcohol slipperiness. Intense and very long. This is great value. I could easily score this 3-4 points higher and, depending on your own preferences you might. I really like this a lot, but something is holding me back - perhaps the strength of the liquorice/medicinal element in a wine so young? The tannins seem supple enough, but I wonder if there might be a bitter element that becomes distracting over time in the cellar? On the other hand, drunk now it is slurpable and great. This is a really interesting wine and I encourage you to find it and try it. Get one of his Chardonnay's while you are at it and have a night of hedonism. See for yourself whether my hesitation is merited; you will enjoy the journey, regardless of whether you agree with me, or not.

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