Tasting Notes - red gold from Coonawarra

Choose the right wine every time - Taste Food and Wine 2008 by Matthew Jukes and Tyson Stelzer

Coonawarra has become famous for its cabernet sauvignon, but Matthew Jukes and Tyson Stelzer from Taste Food and Wine, found some great blends, shiraz and merlot in the releases for 2008.

Rex Watson Three Sons Shiraz 2005 $19
Coonawarra gets more of a rap for its Cabernet than its Shiraz, but your wine diet would be incomplete without a wine like this. The reason is that this wine is a totally different shape and size to every other Shiraz in our list under $20, simply because it’s from Coonawarra. It’s friendlier, more relaxed and desperately easy to get along with, but if you sit it down for a while you’ll discover that it’s up for quite a serious conversation, too. Well done to Rex and his Three Sons.

Balnaves The Blend 2005 $20
Made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this is a smart ‘Bordeaux Blend’ with lots of boisterous grip on the finish and a pretty, intense and yet calm blackcurrant main theme. Pete Bissell is the genius behind this wine and his handiwork is becoming quite at home in our list (see ‘Parker’). Great winery + great winemaker = great wine. This may seem obvious, but it doesn’t always work as well as it does in Pete’s wines. 

Majella Coonawarra Merlot 2005 $28
We tasted an ocean of Merlot between $20 and $35, and we need to warn you that there are a lot of snags to be avoided out there! We are pleased to report that Majella’s luxury liner leaves everything else in its wake. It’s got waves of flavour which ripple with black fruits, herbs and spices. Get on board the only Merlot worth drinking at this price.

Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2004 $29
This is a seamlessly blended red that delivers the very best of Coonawarra in one glass – elegant, leafy, glistening Cabernet supported by concentrated, spice-loaded Shiraz. Cabernet is belting out the lead vocal line while Shiraz hits a perfect harmony and the result is so pristine that the wine came runner-up to the Trophy winner for the best Cabernet-dominant blend in The Great Australian Red 2007. If we told you that the winner sells for four times the price, you’d run out and buy this wine straight away, wouldn’t you? Well?

Majella Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $30
As good as its cosmic reputation says it should be – and more – this wine embodies the mystery, mastery and allure of Coonawarra Cabernet in one sniff and sip. Everything is here, and you’ll not taste a fitter set of tannins in your life. Majella has settled in as a regular in this list, and our first taste of the 2006 confirms that it is set to hold its place next year as well. With all four of his reds on board this year (and the only exception, 2005 Majella Shiraz dangerously close to gate-crashing this party as well) – Prof is in a truly purple patch!

Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $32
This is one of the top estates in Australia, let alone Coonawarra, and the gloss and depth of fruit in this brilliant Cab are simply breathtaking. There are firm tannins and capsicum notes here (as there should be in a wine of this class), but it is the vibrancy of fruit that really sets it apart. Great length and massive impact are only part of the aura that it casts before it – because the nose and first flush of flavour are every bit as impactful. I (Tyson) recently tasted Terra Rossa in a blind line of 20 of the greatest Cabernets in the world (at up to thirty times its price) and it stood high with the best.

Yalumba The Menzies Coonawarra Cabernet 2004 $39
The ‘Mingies’ 2004 is an excellent wine that reads like the Cabernet entry in a wine textbook, with leafy notes to heighten the nose and grippy tannins. A dry finish really calls out for gravy and the roast of your choice. Decanting is essential here, too, as this wine is tight and keen on first opening, but mellows out very swiftly indeed with a breath of fresh air.

Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 $40
Classy, subtle, and a wine to think about – Wayno Stebhens has nailed this 2004 and it is very good indeed. Without the impact and intensity of flavours that it has loaded aloft in recent years, this version of Katnook is more elegant, perfumed, fit and focused – and it’s all the better for it.

Katnook Estate Merlot 2005 $42
This is a laser-guided Merlot, with more black fruits and exotic spice than a fruit mince pie factory. There is also a wondrous creamy fruit note that evokes memories of home made summer pudding and whipped cream. Far too delicious for words, this is a wine that should only have been bottled in magnums.

Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa Merlot 2005 $42
Smartypants Merlot is a rare one, so when we first saw this wine and it was big and juicy and red-currant-stuffed, we loved it immediately! Pete Bissell knows Coonawarra better than anyone we have ever met – little wonder his name is behind some of the region’s superstar wines. 

Regions

• Coonawarra (SA)

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