2012 Hugh Hamilton Cabernet Sauvignon The Villain

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 89 points

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  2/18/2016 - Henman Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Decanted over one hour. Huge perfumy nose of vibrant cassis, blackberries and a whiff of mint. Full bodied on the palate with firm tannins, packed with dense and ripe cassis and blackberry flavors backed up with a good acidic backbone. The fruit is great, not too jammy or overripe. Not any heat to mention. Pleasant dusty lingering finish. Outstanding balance. Still very young but what a pleasure to quaff already!

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  4/8/2015 - forceberry wrote: 87 Points

  Dark and deep, only barely translucent ruby color with thinning pale rim. Dark, dense and pretty intense nose with rich aromas of ripe blackcurrant, some green herbal character and a hint of almost jammy dark fruit. There is a lot of power in the nose, but rather little depth. The wine feels full-bodied and quite concentrated on the palate with pretty dry, savory flavors of plums, blackcurrant-driven dark berries, some bitterness, a little bit of tart berries and a leafy hint of herbaceous character. The mouthfeel is silky, yet the wine is moderately structured with medium-to-moderate acidity and quite firm and somewhat grippy tannins. The alcohol pushes through quite a bit, making the wine come across as pretty hot. The finish is warm and velvety with rich, medium-long flavors of spicy wood, ripe dark berries, some herbal bitterness and a hint of savory dark fruit.
  
  A pretty serious and structured Cabernet Sauvignon that could be pretty good and impressive, if it weren't for the high, almost obtrusive alcohol and rather simple and predictable Cab flavors. The wine isn't as sweet and jammy as many Australian Cabernets can be, but the wine still doesn't show much depth and complexity. Perhaps with some cellaring the wine might lose some of its baby fat and reveal some more complexity, but aging the wine won't help with the high alcohol. A decent and somewhat enjoyable effort, but it still could be better and more enjoyable.

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