Friday, January 10, 2020

Margaret River Top Level Contenders


The top Cabernets from Margaret River are no doubt Cullen's Diana Madeline and the Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon. A number of wineries are working hard to join them. I tasted two contenders recently.

The 2012 Deep Woods Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon shows an attractive fruit profile of blackcurrant and boysenberry. Earthy and meaty flavours add to the complexity. The wine is a bit more developed than I expected. This also showed in the mellowing colour of the wine. Nevertheless, the wine is well structured, but not quite as elegant as Cullen or as rounded in the mouth as Moss Wood.

Score: 93/++ 

The 2011 Devil's Lair 9th Chamber Cabernet Sauvignon delivers good blackcurrant intensity, but not the complexity of the Deep Woods. There is quite a lot of acidity and dry tannins coming through on the palate. The wine is not quite in balance. It should definitely be decanted. It showed a little better after a while. 

Score: 90/0

This review raises another discussion in my mind when thinking about the scene in Margaret River. I will address this in my next post.

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