Coonawarra, South Australia
14.5%, cork, around $30
www.wynns.com.au
A complex nose of cigar box and cedar. The medium bodied palate was dense and opulent, with mostly dark fruit, medium length and medium acidity. With time hints of licorice, menthol and tobacco leaf emerged on the nose. Years of bottle age had been kind to this wine and it was drinking really well - 94.
I've started to compare vintages of similar wines so found this review interesting after recently trying another 2005 Coonawarra Cabernet. I remember reading that 2005 was a hot Coonawarra vintage and so wines with higher levels of alcohol were the result. The wine I recently tried was the Murdock Estate 2005 Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet (winery now closed but wines were made by Pete Bissel from Balnaves and being sold off at less than half price at winemarket.com.au). It has 15.5% alcohol. Despite this fact there were no signs of overipe fruit or 'heat'. It's drinking beautifully now like the Black Label. Do you think the Black Label is going to improve with age as I have a bottle of it in my cellar?
ReplyDeleteYes - I think so - though it is hard to say. This is the first bottle I've consumed from this vintage and it was consumed in one night, so I wasn't able to check how well it might have held up over the following days having been exposed to air. I suspect it will improve with further bottle age, but I wasn't disappointed with the decision to crack this bottle open. The 'tasting notes' recommend consumption up to 2015.
ReplyDeleteIt would be really interesting to compare it with the Murdock Estate. Nice buy.
I have a couple of bottles of this (and '06, '08, '09 and '10) and I won't be drinking them until 2015. I have had 20 year old bottles of this wine and they were still drinking very well. In the late '90s when I used to work at Vintage Cellars, I tried a 35 year old bottle and while it was past its prime the wine was still in good condition.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Wynns has a well established track record. I don't think you'll be disappointed come 2015.
ReplyDeleteI should point out that I prefer Cabernets with around 8 years of age, though some people prefer them to be older and others when they are younger.