Thursday, January 29, 2009

Petaluma Coonawarra

On the same night, I drank the 1999 Petaluma Coonawarra. This wine is less big than the Entity and has obviously mellowed by now. It has good length and a soft finish.

But a strange thing happened. The wine shows the famous hole in the mid palate, Cabernet is known for, and I started thinking why not more Cabernet producers blend their Cabernets with other Bordeaux varieties or Shiraz, particularly in the Coonawarra. Now the funny thing is, this is a blend of 60% Cabernet and 40% Merlot. However, the Merlot component seems to have fallen by the wayside other than for the soft finish - quite weird.

Drinking this on the same night as the Entity demonstrates why wine lovers overseas go for our Shiraz: the power and fruit concentration is not normally matched by Cabernet. And if it is well done and not too ripe and alcoholic, a Barossa Shiraz is very satisfying.

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