Deep, inky colour. Sweet blackcurrant and prunes and dusty wood notes. The palate is thick with very ripe black fruit and cedar spice, excellent concentration and quite a lot of warmth on the mid palate. A big wine that’s still primary so lacks complexity at this stage in its evolution.
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Deepish ruby just short of opaque. Dusty black fruit lead by blackcurrant.Secondary aromas of black tea, smoke and cedar follow in.The nose is of medium intensity but fails to really escape the glass even with the benefit of a long decant. A muscular style of Cabernet with big bold and ripe black fruit along with lashings of charry oak and warm alcohol. It's a real bruiser of a wine with maximum extraction of flavour and tannin. Built for extended cellaring, even now this seems still in its infancy. This ripe, full bodied, high in alcohol style of Cabernet is not how I prefer to take my Cabernet. Having said that, this wine has been artfully constructed into a fine wine from high qualiity grapes in a very good season for South Austrailan red wine. For lovers of the big end new world Cabernet this will be highly valued and appreciated.
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Dense red colour. Dark fruits and eucalyptus on nose. Similar flavours along with a bit of earthiness - good acid bite and a long finish. Still fresh and starting to round out. Very enjoyable with plenty of life left.
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Dark, dense red colour. Leather, green pepper and dark fruits on the nose with similar flavours along with blackcurrant. Fresh and youthful with a long finish.
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Deep, clear red colour. Quite a tight nose - a bit of menthol and liquorice. Dark cherry, sarsaparilla, eucalyptus flavours - still pretty big even after ten years but well balanced with a smooth finish. This wine has plenty of years left in it. Very enjoyable.
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Still unclear where this wine will end up. Drunk over 2 nights. I enjoyed night 1 more, my partner enjoyed night 2. Decent enough but missing something.
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{screwcap, 14.2%} Deep ruby, with s bit of aged brick on the rim. Lavish nose of chocolates and liquorice. Sweetly fruited palate of jammy fruits, chocolate, blackberries, mild powdery tannins, and lowish acid. Not very cabernet, but a lavish and ripe wine, not too sweet, but very new world and fruity. I suspect at peak now, given the style.
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Totally and 100% Australian; it may as well have arrived with an inflatable kangaroo under its arm and wearing a cork hat. Maturing nose of eucalyptus and green peppercorn cabernet notes. Good acidity on the finish and showing quite a bit of evolution to the point where I am not sure further ageing will truly benefit the wine. Its a duke out between the reclining fruit and the acidity. Good balance. Fair dinkum.
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Intense fruit. The acidity is bright which helps balance the power. The tannins are firm. This is a young wine that has a lot of evolving to do. I am not totally convinced that it will become great, but it may do.
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First night - cherries and ribena on the nose and palate. Second night - more plums and velvet. A savouriness comes through the fruit. Good length. New World big wine feel to it. No tannins any more. Will last but probably peaking now.
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Full bodied McLaren Vale cabernet. It's an ok varietal example but not really a great deal going on of interest. There's a herby/basil/green streak through the finish which is turning me off. I wouldn't go out of my way for more
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Appearance: Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with fading rims and legs. Nose: Clean, with pronounced intensity of black fruit of blackcurrant, brambles, plum and black cherries, oak notes of cedar and smoke, animal notes of leather, pungent spice of black pepper, maturity notes of savory. The wine is developing. Palate: Dry with medium (+) acidity, the wine has high tannin of robust and velvety texture, with high alcohol and full body, showing medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit of blackcurrant, blackberry and plum, oak notes of smoke, animal notes of leather. The wine has a medium finish. Conclusion: Very good quality Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia, the wine has a very intense nose showing high complexity of mainly primary and secondary characters, the wine has a robust structure with good concentration and decent complexity and finish. It is ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 3-5 years.
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{screwcap, 14%} Similar to the bottle 18 months ago: plush and ripe, with purple/black fruit flavours and plenty of them, fine medium powdery tannins, soft acid and medium oak. It's dry, but there's plenty of fruit sweetness there. Perhaps also just a little nod towards a herbal/basil cabernet quality, but you couldn't call this green at all. Full-bodied but friendly to drink. Should see ten years easily enough.
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Comes from a clone of Cabernet that is nearly gone.
Spice, bing cherry notes, very juicy and fleshy on the palate, lots of gutsy minerality on the back end. Chester notes its got a "fresh green bean character" which is one way to say it.
Gutsy, long lived.
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"2015" Sydney International Wine Show - stewarding notes; 10/11/2014-10/16/2014 (Blue Mountains, NSW): {screwcap, 14.2%} Dunno if this is another bottle or the same one as the other night. Gosh though, this is plush and velvety; all McLaren Vale rather than cabernet; liquorice, jam, herbal essence. The rich flavours avoid the worst of dead-grape character, still, this is very ripe. Lots of fine powdery tannins contribute to the medium/full body; there is vast, sweet McLaren Vale fruit dominating the mid-palate; this could take years to settle down to anything other than primary characters. Seems to have the stuffing to last though.
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"2015" Sydney International Wine Show - stewarding notes; 10/11/2014-10/16/2014 (Blue Mountains, NSW): {screwcap, 14.2%} Big liquorice, raisin & currant nose. Youthful. The palate is big and furry with medium chalky tannins and fairly unobtrusive acidity. Full-bodied, with a medium length finish of just a little warmth. More McLaren Vale than strictly cabernet; you pay for depth and intensity of flavour rather than longevity here, I suspect. Will no doubt keep a while, but it’s not really a cellaring style. Hefty and enjoyable.
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9/24/2023 - bacchus of knockholt wrote: 89 Points
Deep, inky colour. Sweet blackcurrant and prunes and dusty wood notes. The palate is thick with very ripe black fruit and cedar spice, excellent concentration and quite a lot of warmth on the mid palate. A big wine that’s still primary so lacks complexity at this stage in its evolution.
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12/23/2022 - Robbie K wrote: 92 Points
Deepish ruby just short of opaque.
Dusty black fruit lead by blackcurrant.Secondary aromas of black tea, smoke and cedar follow in.The nose is of medium intensity but fails to really escape the glass even with the benefit of a long decant.
A muscular style of Cabernet with big bold and ripe black fruit along with lashings of charry oak and warm alcohol. It's a real bruiser of a wine with maximum extraction of flavour and tannin.
Built for extended cellaring, even now this seems still in its infancy.
This ripe, full bodied, high in alcohol style of Cabernet is not how I prefer to take my Cabernet. Having said that, this wine has been artfully constructed into a fine wine from high qualiity grapes in a very good season for South Austrailan red wine.
For lovers of the big end new world Cabernet this will be highly valued and appreciated.
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4/8/2022 - rjsmall Likes this wine:
Dense red colour. Dark fruits and eucalyptus on nose. Similar flavours along with a bit of earthiness - good acid bite and a long finish. Still fresh and starting to round out. Very enjoyable with plenty of life left.
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3/14/2021 - rjsmall Likes this wine:
Dark, dense red colour. Leather, green pepper and dark fruits on the nose with similar flavours along with blackcurrant. Fresh and youthful with a long finish.
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1/19/2021 - Alykhan V Likes this wine: 90 Points
Jammy black fruits
Oak, coffee, vegetal notes
Slight bitterness, medium+ tannins
Past its prime, this has seen better days
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9/11/2020 - rjsmall Likes this wine:
Deep, clear red colour. Quite a tight nose - a bit of menthol and liquorice. Dark cherry, sarsaparilla, eucalyptus flavours - still pretty big even after ten years but well balanced with a smooth finish. This wine has plenty of years left in it. Very enjoyable.
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9/18/2019 - Andrew67 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Still unclear where this wine will end up. Drunk over 2 nights. I enjoyed night 1 more, my partner enjoyed night 2. Decent enough but missing something.
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8/3/2019 - graemeg wrote:
{screwcap, 14.2%} Deep ruby, with s bit of aged brick on the rim. Lavish nose of chocolates and liquorice. Sweetly fruited palate of jammy fruits, chocolate, blackberries, mild powdery tannins, and lowish acid. Not very cabernet, but a lavish and ripe wine, not too sweet, but very new world and fruity. I suspect at peak now, given the style.
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7/5/2018 - pjaines wrote:
Totally and 100% Australian; it may as well have arrived with an inflatable kangaroo under its arm and wearing a cork hat. Maturing nose of eucalyptus and green peppercorn cabernet notes. Good acidity on the finish and showing quite a bit of evolution to the point where I am not sure further ageing will truly benefit the wine. Its a duke out between the reclining fruit and the acidity. Good balance. Fair dinkum.
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6/30/2018 - Andrew67 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Intense fruit. The acidity is bright which helps balance the power. The tannins are firm. This is a young wine that has a lot of evolving to do. I am not totally convinced that it will become great, but it may do.
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3/1/2018 - shallIshantI Likes this wine: 91 Points
First night - cherries and ribena on the nose and palate. Second night - more plums and velvet. A savouriness comes through the fruit. Good length. New World big wine feel to it. No tannins any more. Will last but probably peaking now.
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9/23/2017 - Andrew67 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Enjoyable, with firm tannins, good fruit and decent length. No detailed notes.
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10/20/2016 - Jimmy_D wrote: 89 Points
Full bodied McLaren Vale cabernet. It's an ok varietal example but not really a great deal going on of interest. There's a herby/basil/green streak through the finish which is turning me off. I wouldn't go out of my way for more
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9/14/2016 - peterchoy wrote: 91 Points
Appearance: Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with fading rims and legs.
Nose: Clean, with pronounced intensity of black fruit of blackcurrant, brambles, plum and black cherries, oak notes of cedar and smoke, animal notes of leather, pungent spice of black pepper, maturity notes of savory. The wine is developing.
Palate: Dry with medium (+) acidity, the wine has high tannin of robust and velvety texture, with high alcohol and full body, showing medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit of blackcurrant, blackberry and plum, oak notes of smoke, animal notes of leather. The wine has a medium finish.
Conclusion: Very good quality Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia, the wine has a very intense nose showing high complexity of mainly primary and secondary characters, the wine has a robust structure with good concentration and decent complexity and finish. It is ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 3-5 years.
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6/12/2016 - Andrew67 wrote: 91 Points
Quite a powerful wine, with black fruits, liquorice and herbs. Still very young, it will take time to open up properly.
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4/18/2016 - graemeg wrote:
{screwcap, 14%} Similar to the bottle 18 months ago: plush and ripe, with purple/black fruit flavours and plenty of them, fine medium powdery tannins, soft acid and medium oak. It's dry, but there's plenty of fruit sweetness there. Perhaps also just a little nod towards a herbal/basil cabernet quality, but you couldn't call this green at all. Full-bodied but friendly to drink. Should see ten years easily enough.
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5/13/2015 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Comes from a clone of Cabernet that is nearly gone.
Spice, bing cherry notes, very juicy and fleshy on the palate, lots of gutsy minerality on the back end. Chester notes its got a "fresh green bean character" which is one way to say it.
Gutsy, long lived.
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10/14/2014 - graemeg wrote:
"2015" Sydney International Wine Show - stewarding notes; 10/11/2014-10/16/2014 (Blue Mountains, NSW): {screwcap, 14.2%} Dunno if this is another bottle or the same one as the other night. Gosh though, this is plush and velvety; all McLaren Vale rather than cabernet; liquorice, jam, herbal essence. The rich flavours avoid the worst of dead-grape character, still, this is very ripe. Lots of fine powdery tannins contribute to the medium/full body; there is vast, sweet McLaren Vale fruit dominating the mid-palate; this could take years to settle down to anything other than primary characters. Seems to have the stuffing to last though.
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10/12/2014 - graemeg wrote:
"2015" Sydney International Wine Show - stewarding notes; 10/11/2014-10/16/2014 (Blue Mountains, NSW): {screwcap, 14.2%} Big liquorice, raisin & currant nose. Youthful. The palate is big and furry with medium chalky tannins and fairly unobtrusive acidity. Full-bodied, with a medium length finish of just a little warmth. More McLaren Vale than strictly cabernet; you pay for depth and intensity of flavour rather than longevity here, I suspect. Will no doubt keep a while, but it’s not really a cellaring style. Hefty and enjoyable.
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