2018 – a very good Granite Belt vintage and including for Cabernet Sauvignon. This one made by Rod MacPherson with, at least I always suspect, some guiding influence from his partner Phillipa ex winemaker at the old Preston Peak at Wyberba.
This wine is quite impenetrable in it’s depths and shows bright gleaming purple/red hues where it’s pulled upwards as it encounters the glass edge. The initial announcement is a declaration of drifted wafts of cassis followed by menthol, then blackcurrants, hints of coffee, spicy oak and some garrigue/herbaceous scents add a faint epilogue.
The medium bodied palate is long and silky, rather more silky than I had expected for a young Granite Belt cabernet from the 2018 vintage but this is probably due to the tannin profile. The tannins are a joyous encounter with very fine pencilly yet pliable softish characters. As the wine opens up the main expression is of cassis, blackcurrant, some capsicum characters, slights of menthol/eucalypt, just a little sweet almost compote raspberry and from just after midway through the mid-palate you encounter a charging, and with some significant velocity, of aniseed which is a delightful surprise and something your palate eagerly anticipates in your next encounter. In the initial encounter, and just beyond the aniseed the expectation is of some assertive and drying cabernet sauvignon tannins but something quite different emerges, here you notice a very fine pencil tannin and quite soft feeling drying, unexpected but intensely pleasing!
If you like primary fruit then you can drink this wine now, if you really enjoy aged cabernet, come back in 5 to 10 years.
Tasted: Friday 11th September, 2020 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13.9%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $37
Suggested Drinking Window: now to 2028
Winemaker: Rod MacPherson
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