jamie goode's wine blog: Crazy Aussie Cabernet

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Crazy Aussie Cabernet

Tonight's tipple, as I watch Man City win in Europe, is a remarkable, crazily intense Australian Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet has never really worked all that well in Barossa and McLaren Vale (although I've tasted some impressive examples from the Clare, also in South Australia), but this example from D'Arenberg is fantastic stuff, if you are in the mood for it.

D'Arenberg 'The Feathered Dinosaur' Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 McLaren Vale, South Australia
This is a massive wine: indeed, it's the first time I've seen a screwcap liner like this stained with the wine! It's an incredibly taut, intense, complex, tight wound wine with aromas of sweet, minerally, spicy blackcurrant and raspberry fruit, with some meaty, earthy notes. The palate has dense sweet fruit, but comes across as intensely savoury with spicy, earthy, cedary, tarry notes, strong tannins and high acidity. There may even be a bit of matchstick reduction here, too - there's so much going on it's hard to separate the individual flavour components out. I reckon this will age into a mellow, rich, tarry spiciness, but it really does need some time. Lovely stuff in a traditionally Australian style, but you do need to be in the right mood for it. 94/100 (£17.99 Tesco)

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4 Comments:

At 11:24 PM, Anonymous Alex Lake said...

Wow, that's a generous score? Something to do with a Mr Robinho, perhaps?

 
At 9:26 AM, Blogger Steve Borthwick said...

Interesting - how does it compare with "the coppermine road" - sounds similar?

 
At 12:58 PM, Anonymous mambo said...

I've been eyeing this one at my local Tesco....the price has stopped me so far. I tend to try and justify the expense against a Tim Adams Shiraz and end up going for that instead!

 
At 5:05 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Alex
It's actually a really good wine - I was pleasantly surprised by just how good it is.

Steve
It reminds me of the Coppermine road, but I'm not sure it is exactly the same. I liked the CR a bit more than the dead arm.

mambo - it is expensive, yes, and Tim Adams Shiraz is a nice wine.

 

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