Not even remotely ready to drink, this one.
Having said that, it's fascinating to taste, if only to guess at what lies ahead. First impressions are of cut grass and fresh gravel. It's hard to tell where the former ends and the latter starts, so I guess there's a certain coherence to the aroma profile, but it's also pretty uncompromising, and for some tastes there may be a tad too much herbaciousness. There isn't a lot of berry fruit evident on the nose, and only slightly more oak, though what cedar there is picks up where the gravel ends, making it hard to tease each element apart. Some volatility lifts the aroma nicely. An altogether firm, intellectual experience.
There's a bit more sensuality in the mouth, mostly via clean berry fruit and a sort of ripe leafiness that strikes me as incredibly varietal. A poised entry that flows elegantly to the middle palate, spreading tightly coiled berry and tangy syrup flavours along the way. Medium bodied, there's good concentration of complex fruit and oak flavour, held tightly along a progression through the mouth that is controlled and linear. Fruit flavour dips on the after palate just as abundant tannins become the most prominent element, but returns in savoury mode as the wine draws to a lengthy close.
It's really too coiled right now to enjoy on a sensual level, but the quality's there and Cabernet purists will probably love its classic lines. Try it again in ten years' time.
If you like this style Julian, try and get a hold of some of the Woodlands reds (which I seem to bang on about relentlessly).
Woodlands share a fence with BV and for a long time sold some fruit to Hardys that went into this label (until Constellation came along).
" fascinating to taste, if only to guess at what lies ahead"- interesting part of wine. Was thinking exactly the same thing whilst having a look at the 2007 Blue Poles Reserve Merlot.
It shoudn't really be opened at all yet, but for us "curious" types it's hard to not to crack just one and speculate, particularly over a couple of days :) And it ends up as another possible way of enjoying wine in its own right I reckon.
You can never have too many avenues to enjoying wine, or anything else for that matter ;)
cheers
jeremy
Yeah, I've got a 2007 Margaret lingering in the cellar that I look forward to trying. To be honest, I'm not sold on this particular wine, but will reserve judgement on the style until I've tasted a few more similar wines.
You're absolutely right, I think -- the whole idea that wine has an ideal drinking window and can't be fully enjoyed outside of it is quite strong amongst drinkers I think. And on a purely sensual level, perhaps that's right. But I've tasted wines that are too old that have fascinated me in all sorts of ways, and as you say there's no reason why wines that are too young can't hold their own appeal, for their own reasons.