Wine: Good cab sauvs show why classics never go out of fashion

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Wine: Good cab sauvs show why classics never go out of fashion

Outside of the “super-premium” collector wines, cabernet sauvignon has lost favour to more fashionable varieties for everyday drinking. But, the “anything but what Dad drinks” market may have to think again as affordable cab sauv and cab merlot often prove more enjoyable than a slew of cheap pinots and experimental batch new varieties. Is it time for a revisit?

Hayshed Hill, Pitchfork 2023 Cabernet Merlot, Margaret River, WA $17

Remarkably, for a wine at this price, this soft quaffer has spent 10 months in oak barrels before bottling. It’s plush up front, tapering to a fine, gentle finish. Lavishly fruity with sweet mulberry, ****** cherry and bitter cranberry. There’s a crunch and a bite to this ripe, but easy drinking red, and hints of coffee grounds and pencil shavings (from time in oak) to add richness. Winemaker Michael Kerrigan knows how to deliver good value. 89/100

Hayshed Hill 2023 Cabernet Merlot, Margaret River, WA $22 (available April)

Purple-tinged and viscous. Plummy, rounded and warming. A generous glass of wine. ****** plums, blackcurrants, cedar, dried autumn leaves and milk chocolate. Mouthcoating tannins are supple not puckering and the finish is dry and complete. It’s impossible to deny the quality of this competitively priced (often sub $20) red, even if it is a little showy. 88/100

Hayshed Hill 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, WA $30

Pretty and fragrant aromatics of violets, cherry blossom and cinnamon, with a deeper, brooding, blackcurrant fruit backdrop. The mouthfeel is pure, with a fine weft, and fresh, with precise, savoury-dry tannins which appear to expand and extend the flavours. Blueberry, ****** cherry, cocoa powder, vanilla, cinnamon. All components integrate and entwine and give a sense of balance to the wine. Drink now or cellar for the medium term. 93/100

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Wine #Good #cab #sauvs #show #classics #fashion

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up