Premium Cabernets Comparison

 This is a brief review of some Australian premium Cabernets.

The star of this comparison tasting was the highly acclaimed 2020 Cullen Diana Madeline. It is a Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend. This was the most elegant wine, red fruited, with some tannin bite at the same time, and a beautiful finish. This is a world class wine (97 points).

The one closest in style to it was the 2019 Grosset Gaia. It had a similar feel, but was a bit broader in the mouth, less detailed, again with firm tannins (94 points).

The other wine from Margaret River was quite different. It was the top of the range 2018 Vasse Felix Tom Cullity Cabernet Malbec. It showed darker fruit, with mulberry flavours. The Malbec influence is strong. This is a bigger wine, quite fruity (93 points).  

An impressive wine was the 2017 Hickinbotham Clarendon Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon. It comes from the Northern, hillier part of McLaren Vale. This is a smooth wine, ripe, but balanced, with a silky mouthfeel and a medium to long finish (95 points).

I was less impressed with the 2016 Yalumba Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon. The redcurrant flavours are big and ripe. Christmas pudding or mud cake deliver quite a fat mouthfeel (92 points). 

There was also a New Zealand wine, the Merlot dominant 2019 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Te Kahu. This is quite a soft wine, but it lacked sufficient mouthfeel (91 points).

Craggy Range and Torbreck

 I am drinking the 2016 Craggy Range Te Kahu Merlot blend. This wine hits me with its concentrated fruit. It is intense and powerful, but also elegant and quite smooth. I am reminded of Torbreck.

There is a lot of primary fruit here, blackberry and plum. The structure is firm, with a dry tannic backbone. There is great fruit in this wine; it is well made. However, the mouthfeel is of a thick and blocky wine. It is not layered.

Score: 94/0

As it happens, the first wine I grab after is the 2017 Torbreck Factor. This is Torbreck's most concentrated 100% Shiraz. In comparison to the Craggy Range, it is darker, riper, almost Port like, and the oak shows more. In my view, this is not like wine should be, and the dry year did not help. I do not think the winemaking has been great here. Interestingly, David Powell's favorite during his Torbreck reign has always been the Steading, not the more powerful wines with the best and ripest fruit, selling for three times the price.

Score: 89/-

PS: So in hindsight, the Craggy Range was nothing like a Torbreck (I just had forgotten)