I picked this up for a song at a local bottlo in the Lockyer Valley. Not terribly promising provenance, to be sure. But it's drinking really well right now, so I guess this particular bottle hasn't had too hard a life.
Calm, poised aromas of ripe foliage squished between the pages of old leather-bound books, cedar, vanilla custard, clean blackcurrant juice. A little volatile. It's ageing especially well in terms of aroma profile, I think, although you'd need to be partial to a fairly high degree of oak influence to fully enjoy it.
Entry is quite flavoursome, again cool and poised, each flavour falling precisely without feeling overly structured or contrived. There are still significant tannins and these, whilst fine and ripe, tend to dominate the wine's mouthfeel. The middle palate is medium bodied and elegant, a precise thread of blackcurrant fruit shooting down the line, surrounded by tannins and high toned oak flavour. A soft, powdery note emerges on the after palate, softening the flavour profile and embellishing what remains a powerful, present structure. Reasonably long finish.
Not bad for a sub-$20 wine, then. There's structure aplenty here and, although this is highly drinkable with food right now, you could happily experiment with a bottle or two in the cellar for a while longer.
Leave a comment