Coonawarra 15.0% Screwcap $110
Onto the Granddaddy of the 2006 Parker Terra Rossa releases, the First Growth Cabernet Melot blend (86%, 13% and 1% unaccounted for). Seriously, if you buy this don’t crack it yet – or if you do give it an extremely long decant; otherwise all you’re going to get is oak (24 months in French barriques, a whopping 84% of them new) and acid. There’s way more here if you show some patience.
Ultimately, it smells of blackberries and cassis, plums and prunes, with redcurrant rolling its way through the darker fruits. Throw in menthol, capsicum, herbs and nettles, dry earth, graphite and choc/vanilla. A fair amount of complexity all up. The tannin attack begins early on the palate, but they are very fine grained tannins. There is certainly quality to the fruit and oak but it is built for the long haul. Don’t expect any great rewards now. It starts off sweet, then steers towards savoury before finishing with some sourness.
Once it it all comes together (and I do think it will) it should be very, very good. Is it worth the $110? Questions of value are often lost on me above the three figure mark. Hopefully my tasting note has given you some idea of the sort of wine that you’d be buying, after that it’s over to you. I’d buy the 2006 Cabernet and pocket the $70 myself…but my real vinous interests lie elsewhere, so I wouldn’t make too much of that.
Winery website- http://www.parkercoonawarraestate.com.au/
Very descriptive Jeremy, but what the heck does 'graphite' taste like??? I thought it was just a planar form of cross-linked elemental carbon useful for writing purposes but not with a great deal of flavour……keep up the creative descriptions though…
Anonymous – My first desire when these sort of comments appear (and, much to my amazement, many people still think they are raising an exciting and novel issue) is to refer to Saussure and Structuralism. But really, that's more effort than I can be bothered expending. You can always google them.
Perhaps a better approach is to quote highly respected wine writer Jancis Robinson – "Sometimes accepted tasting terms bear only the loosest of similarities to the flavors whose name they carry".
There are two other options.
1. You may have mistaken this site for the AWRI who provide a commercial service delivering scientific analysis of a wine's composition…as opposed to a tasting note.
2. You may prefer the approach of a site called 'Wine Without BS'. I reckon it would be right down your alley. You can google it too.
cheers,
j
Haha. Brilliant JP.