In Adelaide to perform some minor functions in conjunction with the Tasting Australia event, I have just attended a tasting of twelve Coonawarra cabernet sauvignons dating back to 1976. Cabernet sauvignon accounts for 65% of the red wine plantings in this region, which themselves represent 85% of the area under vine. That is about 10% less than it ought to be, but that is another story. A 1976 Redman was made in the lean, greenish, tight-knit style typical of the period. It opened with pleasing developed cabernet aromas and searing acidity, eventually breathing enough to provide some stuffing on the palate. No doubt, if the same fruit were made into wine today, it would be substantially better. The 1979 Bowen Estate presented loads more bright, sumptuous, juicy fruit and certainly more oak, and carried an edge of the herbaceous characters so sought after by Australian makers in that period. It was the best of the more mature wines, marginally ahead of a tight, but smoky, complex and ethereal Leconfield 1982, a wine of alluring flavour and fragility, but still a little tight and closed. In between was the 1980 Lindemans St George, itself something of an historical marker in the evolution of Coonawarra, and indeed Australian, cabernet. The leafiness that was initially masked by its explosively concentrated flavours of cassis and mulberries now dominates the wine, which has virtually remained unchanged in the last ten years. The 1986 Orlando St Hugo looked as sweet, ripe, juicy and blocky as ever, while the bottles presented of the 1988 Zema Family Selection were clearly adversely affected by the quality of their corks. A gloriously elegant, smooth and silky Hollick Ravenswood 1991 was followed by a slightly stewed, leafy 1994 Brand’s, a typical wine from this under-rated vintage that has yet to hit its straps. The modern contingent began with a Barrel Auction Series bottling of Parker 1997, a fine, ripe, rich and sumptuous wine from this difficult vintage that will continue to develop. Next came the very closed, tight and long-term Wynn’s John Riddoch 1998, which is going to mature very, very slowly, and which was rather overshaded by the exuberant, briary fruit and sumptuous, velvet-like texture of Majella’s 1998 Barrel Auction Series bottling. The final wine was the Barrel Auction Series bottling from Balnaves in 2000, which offers a briary perfume and a smooth, supple, juicy palate and some short to medium term promise. I’m heading to Coonawarra next week to take a close look at the very extensive vineyard renovations being undertaken by Southcorp, and will report back with some views on where this region is headed with wine quality. For the time being, I hold the firm view that despite Coonawarra’s undoubted potential, Margaret River is making more cabernet sauvignon of high quality. That, I expect, could change once Coonawarra gets its focus and fundamentals in the right direction.
