St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Vertical spanning 3 Decades (Merce's Castle): Under cork which came out in one piece and was in excellent condition. This was a ring in and was served blind to the group. It was primarily introduced for those who think “nothing good comes out of the Hunter!”. It was obvious on first tasting this was very different to everything we have tasted so far. In fact, one observer early on said they got dirty socks on the nose … whose socks I wonder? Anyway, the colour was dark red … but definitely not as deep as the St Hugo’s we have been tasting. Very fragrant nose with lots of spice, leather and red/black fruit. Very elegant palate compared to the St Hugo, pristine fruit with lovely acidity finishing long and soft with a splash of tannin. Lovely wine and finally something in this flight worth sitting up for and taking notice of. A few in the group thought Margaret River … specifically Mosswood … until one observer shouted with confidence slamming his fist on the table “2014 LAKES FOLLY CABERNET”. Boom! Correct answer. Well done Mooie! A few placed this in their top 3 wines of the night.
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I’m a little surprised at how restrained this is showing for the bigger ‘14 vintage. The nose is classic bordeaux and translates on the same line and length. More hunter terroir than fruit driven, which again, is a bit surprising for the vintage.
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From 375ml. Cellared since release. Looked tired, brown tinged, lacking fruit. Not corked. So I opened another 1/2 bottle. This one at least carried some dark berry fruit amongst some angular tannins. Neither bottle seemed representative.
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4/19/2024 - rrotar wrote:
Drank April 2024. Nice
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12/2/2023 - sthugo Likes this wine:
St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Vertical spanning 3 Decades (Merce's Castle): Under cork which came out in one piece and was in excellent condition. This was a ring in and was served blind to the group. It was primarily introduced for those who think “nothing good comes out of the Hunter!”. It was obvious on first tasting this was very different to everything we have tasted so far. In fact, one observer early on said they got dirty socks on the nose … whose socks I wonder? Anyway, the colour was dark red … but definitely not as deep as the St Hugo’s we have been tasting. Very fragrant nose with lots of spice, leather and red/black fruit. Very elegant palate compared to the St Hugo, pristine fruit with lovely acidity finishing long and soft with a splash of tannin. Lovely wine and finally something in this flight worth sitting up for and taking notice of. A few in the group thought Margaret River … specifically Mosswood … until one observer shouted with confidence slamming his fist on the table “2014 LAKES FOLLY CABERNET”. Boom! Correct answer. Well done Mooie! A few placed this in their top 3 wines of the night.
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5/5/2023 - Willis61 wrote:
Drinking well and wont get much better
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12/18/2022 - Jimmy_D Likes this wine: 92 Points
I’m a little surprised at how restrained this is showing for the bigger ‘14 vintage. The nose is classic bordeaux and translates on the same line and length. More hunter terroir than fruit driven, which again, is a bit surprising for the vintage.
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12/1/2022 - fizz wrote:
From 375ml. Cellared since release.
Looked tired, brown tinged, lacking fruit. Not corked.
So I opened another 1/2 bottle. This one at least carried some dark berry fruit amongst some angular tannins.
Neither bottle seemed representative.
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