Recommended Retail Price: $45.00
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: South Australia
Cellaring to: 2041
Langtons Classification: Excellent
Overview
‘Black Label’ Cabernet Sauvignon, which was first vintaged in 1954, has evolved markedly over the decades. It is arguably Australia’s most recognised Cabernet Sauvignon and has more than any other, helped define Coonawarra. The wine is matured in new and seasoned French oak for 12 to 18 months. A classic Coonawarra Cabernet with pristine dark berry/ cassis aromas, fine-grained tannins and underlying savoury nuances, it develops into a rich, chocolaty wine with age. In a super vintage, this wine can look astonishingly like a 2nd or 3rd growth Bordeaux with its pure cassis aromas and cedary complexity.
Expert Reviews
Jenni Port Halliday Wine Companion
One sip, you’re in. Another seductive Black Label – its 63rd vintage – and it’s a wow. Excellent vintage conditions have no doubt helped, but this Australian icon doesn’t need a lot of assistance outside its trio of long-time ‘curators’: Sue Hodder, Allen Jenkins and Sarah Pidgeon. Masses of blackberry fruits, a touch of black olive savouriness, stewed rhubarb, violets. Casts a wide net across the palate with sustained black fruits and spice, but also notes of coffee grounds, bay leaf and vanilla. Oak enhances, yet keeps itself in the background.
Score: 96/100
Andrew Callard MW
Medium deep crimson. Classical cassis cedar aromas with roasted hazelnut, herb-garden, espresso coffee notes. Supple, elegant and minerally with gentle pure blackcurrant fruits, underlying cedar, dried herbs, vanilla roasted chestnut oak, superb mid-palate inkiness and vigorous fine grainy tannins. In some ways understated and sotto voce but lovely clarity and composure. A very age-worthy style yet with immediate appeal.
Score: 96/100
Mike Bennie The Wine Front
Full of pleasure, quite lush despite the web and frame of fine, graphite-feeling tannins. Choc-cherry sniffs and tastes, cassis, violets for sure, some white pepper, choc-mint notes through the wine. Lively and fresh-feeling even with added depth. Sumptuous cabernet, in a sense. It’s great drinking, a little easier on the palate than stricter, leaner releases, but still shows very the pedigree of vines and winemaking. Satisfaction and ease and charm.
Score: 93/100