In the glass a deep, dark red with a fading purple ring around the rim of the glass. Not showing a lot of age to look at, still fresh on the nose with violets and Cuban cigars with hints of fresh red & green peppers wafting up from the glass.
The palate shows some dark cherry and dense black fruits tasting almost green and not yet ripe on first entry into the mouth this flows through the length of the wine. It took some time for the powerful rich red fruits to make an appearance with a stand out liquorice tang on the Finish.
Had I not had the bottle in front of me, I would not have picked this as a Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. A very interesting and different Cabernet Sauvignon from the Yarra Valley.
Under Stelvin enclosure this wine is 7 years old. However it is drinking well now and has a few more years ageing ahead of it. I look forward to tasting this wine in 2 to 3 years time as I would like to see if it mellows at all or just stays dense and powerful and I am most interested as to where that liquorice tang is going.
At the end of the day a very interesting and different Cabernet Sauvignon from the Yarra Valley.
Michael Lillis
