Just tasted: The wine judged Best Red Wine of the recent Margaret River Wine Show was a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 from a relatively obscure producer, Island Brook. This is a very polished, intensely flavoured and beautifully balanced red. Its almost pungent aroma of black and red berries, violets, new chocolate/cedary oak has a faint hint of iodine. There’s also a suggestion of earth, but not a whiff of greenness. The palate is nothing short of luxuriant, with a long, plush mouthfeel delivering intense, almost sour-edged dark berry fruits and light tobacco notes. The tannins are as fine as silk, the oak tightly integrated. The only improvement I can envisage would have been a shade less alcohol, since there’s a hint of heat. Rated 18.7 (drink 2006-2009+), this wine is available from the cellar at $70 per bottle. I have a hunch the price has something to do with the gong, but it’s not the wine’s fault!
