2003 Tahbilk Cabernet Sauvignon

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 89 points

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  7/31/2013 - StewartWent wrote: 89 Points

  GG must have sampled a bad bottle as I thought this was pretty good. No doubt it's ripe and full, for the house, but the richness is very balanced and complete. The 10yrs of age is well hidden with an unusual level of freshness although I do concede a layer of over-ripe fruit kicks in late. Tannin is classy and I think helps frame the ripe fruit. Another 5yrs won't hurt.

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  3/8/2013 - graemeg wrote:

  {cork, 14.5%} Hmmm. Bit dubious about this, I must say. Initially a very restrained nose, which bloomed a little with time in the glass. Some mulberries and currants, but also a porty note, verging on volatile. Aging, certainly, but doesn't seem to be in a good way. The palate has serious acid attack, a really prickly spikiness; tannins seem to be almost absent. Palate has those same mulberry, baked grape flavours which eventually emerge on the nose. The finish is warm, with a big hole in the mid-palate. The wine seems to lack the freshness needed to be long aging; on this showing the wine is ready to drink. Cork looked fine; it's not obviously faulty, just doesn't quite sing the way you expect decade-old Tahbilk (even the base level cabernet) to warble. Alcohol levels rose dangerously in Tahbilk's cab and shiraz through the mid-noughties; I don't think it'll do anything for their cellaring potential. My last bottle of this; if this is a typical example, I shan't fret...

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  5/24/2010 - graemeg Likes this wine:

  {cork, 14.5%, A$13} Dark-hued curranty fruits; restrained, quite youthful, despite a tinge of earthy aromatics. The palate is consistent, still rather youthful, and with a distinct touch of central Victorian mint & eucalyptus making an appearance - subtle, but definitely there among the briary dark fruits and gentle French oak tannins. Medium-weight, and nicely integrated, this is yet to reach its peak. Ridiculously cheap upon release, this wants another five years to bloom into something a bit multi-dimensional. It's no blockbuster - although carries its alcohol well - and is all the better for that. Classy and understated expression of cabernet.

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