Leo Buring Cabernet Sauvignon 1986 Wholesale Price Recommended Retail Price David Hohnen is one of the best-known winemakers in Australia. Two consecutive Jimmy Watsons with Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon and a brilliant winemaking/marketing success in New Zealand called Cloudy Bay have seen to that. Cape Mentelle has largely built its reputation on its fuller-bodied red wines, which show distinct similarities in structure to those from Dominique Portet’s excellent Taltarni winery, and Cloudy Bay’s name for its remarkably intense Sauvignon Blancs is known worldwide. Perhaps then, the Cape Mentelle Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc might be seen as something of a compromise. Don’t let that even enter your mind – to my knowledge Hohnen hasn’t compromised anything with his wine. It’s a pleasure, too, to see that the 1988 vintage is the best yet under this label, which without ever receiving a great deal of publicity, has developed a strong following amongst those in the trade and the public ‘in the know’. Cape Mentelle is one of the premium labels from the Margaret River area of Western Australia, around three hours’ drive south of Perth through Bunbury. It is known as a haven for surfers, eccentric academics, artists and winemakers and is rightly seen as one of the most important quality wine regions in Australia. It is making a name for its semillons, sauvignon blancs and blends of the two – and those made by Cape Mentelle, Cape Clairault, Cullens, Leeuwin Estate, Evans & Tate and Chateau Xanadu are highly respected. Unlike the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, which is largely an un-wooded wine made to capture all the youthful freshness of the sauvignon blanc, the Cape Mentelle Semillon Sauvignon Blanc receives substantial, but balanced oak treatment. Half the wine is fermented and aged in new French oak barrels. The wood shows as a slightly nutty, vanillin character on the nose, and lends a lingering depth and oaky flavour on the palate. The precise blend is 55% semillon, 35% sauvignon blanc and 10% chenin blanc, which achieves an excellent pay-off between the youthful tropical fruit and greenness and attraction of the two major white varieties in the blend with the longer-term potential of semillon. In a restaurant situation the wine is one that always sounds slightly over-optimistic – it drinks well now but will certainly improve with time in the bottle. From where I stand that could be anything up to five years. The Cape Mentelle Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 1988 has a green-straw colour of medium depth and excellent clarity. The nose is fresh, aromatic and greenish with delightful berry and passionfruit flavours and nutty, vanillin oak characters with a hint of creaminess. It’s a vibrant, exciting wine with a long, greenish palate of softness and elegance and the sort of grapey fruit depth the nose would have you anticipate. The finish is clean and acidic, and lingers about well after the wine is (i) swallowed or (ii) spat out. As for food suggestions, the choice is limitless. The only real danger is that the wine’s intensity of flavour might drown out those of more delicate foods. It would easily complement salads and cold meat platters, stronger seafoods like lobster and freshwater fish, chicken, veal, pork and rich, creamy dishes like the Fettucine carbonara I am trying to perfect at home. Distribution is courtesy the Dorado Wine Company.
