Before it was bottled I couldn’t drink enough of the Lindemans St George Cabernet Sauvignon 1980. This wine that not only won the Jimmy Watson Trophy, but it ignited a twenty-year debate on what cabernet sauvignon should and should not taste like. I worked the disastrously damp 1983 vintage at Lindemans Coonawarra, the highlight of which was meant to be assisting with the St George. Alas, when the pitiful amount of dirty rotten fruit harvested eventually showed up at the winery, nature had already dictated there was to be no St George made that year. Off it went to Karadoc near Mildura to be turned into Ben Ean or something similar. So, unable to help make St George, I thought I’d relate to it by syphoning off as much as I felt I could get away with via the racking valve on a very large stainless steel tank half-way along the right aisle at the Rouge Homme winery. I know I was not alone in choosing this means to express my affection for the young wine, but despite that, there was enough remaining for commercial release. It was always a leafy, greenish sort of a wine but while young these flavours were held in check by explosive, heady dark berry fruit flavours, themselves wound around the tightest and finest of tannins. The overall effect was not unlike taking a swallow-dive onto a pile of velvet cushions. Alas, as time progressed, the wine deteriorated. Having tasted it the other day I’m actually glad I don’t have any anymore. It looks simple, green and sappy. And frankly, I don’t need it. Why? I’ve also tasted the new 1998 Coonawarra red wine releases from Lindemans, and they’re terrific. Not only are they the best collection yet put together of St George, Limestone Ridge and Pyrus, but each of the three wines will eventually be recognised as the best yet released under its respective label. The St George is everything a modern Coonawarra cabernet should be: fine, elegant, restrained, yet bursting with the sort of intense and complex small berry flavours that few regions anywhere in the world could dream of matching. Its tannins are smooth and tight-knit and its palate as concentrated as it is reserved. The Limestone Ridge is another single vineyard wine, this time a blend of shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. It’s deep, dark and peppery, packed with intense blackcurrant, raspberry and plum fruit, all packed around a smooth, carefully integrated complement of smoky dark chocolate and cedary oak. The smart money will keep this and the St George for at least a decade. The third wine of the trio is typically the earlier-maturing Pyrus blend, which has evolved into a typical ‘new world’ blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, to which a splash or two of cabernet franc and malbec have been added. It’s easily the best Pyrus to date, in fact the only one other than the 1994 I’d really take seriously. Perfumed with alluringly deep aromas of violets, cherries and raspberries, it marries the succulent middle palate and lightly tobaccoey qualities of merlot with translucent cassis and plum cabernet flavour. Approachable right now, its fine structure of willowy tannins will certainly encourage improvement in the bottle. Selling around the fifty dollar mark, these three Lindemans reds show how well the company has used the excellent 1998 vintage to step right into the top bracket of Australian red winemaking. Not since the 1980 vintage has Lindemans given us so much to talk about, but this time there’s no question of controversy. Lindemans St George Cabernet Sauvignon – The Best Vintages 1998 Beautifully balanced, intense and refined. 1996 Ripe, fine-grained, supple and smoky. 1994 Floral, herby, smoky and succulent. 1991 Developing beautifully, tight-knit and lively. 1986 Deeply fruited, rich, leathery and tarry. 1976 Cigarboxy, slightly herby, succulent and firm.
