Cartel Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

"Soft cartel"

The cartel venturing into Cabernet? Well, perhaps (really), they shouldn't.

Coonawarra is renowned for Cabernet Sauvignon, it is also famous for producing some really big styles for an equally big price. This wine is neither.

It is an easy drinking style of Cabernet with alludes to what can come out of the region with hints of the big dusty plummy wines but lacking all the length as well as having a degree of sharpness and tartness that has come from over extraction – read: squeezing the hell out of the grapes, which were also pretty young, based on the lack of body.

This typical easy drinking style means you get what you pay for. The lesson here is definitely don’t buy it just because it has Coonawarra on the label as there are great wines for the same price from lesser regions that will take this wine out like Mike Tyson took out Evander Holyfield’s ear.

It doesn’t really like food, as it’s too easily overpowered. So drink it like you are on a diet and have it with some water crackers or a carrot. Don’t wait too long as age won’t be of benefit. Buy it on a Monday and drink it by Friday.

No more can be said about this wine. Available exclusively through the wine society for $9.99.

Casa Santos Lima Bons Ventos Vinho Tinto Regional Lisboa Portugal 2008

“A mouthful"

You deserve a drink after saying that! Yes it’s a mouthful I know, but so is the wine. This is a Portuguese red wine (vinho tinto), made by Casa Santos Lima called Good winds (Bons Ventos).

It is a typical red wine from this region consisting of several grape varieties; Castelao, Camarate, Tinta Miuda, and Touriga Nacional which is often used in Port.

This wine smells a little like wet socks taking a herb bath – yummy I know. Yet get past the nose and there is a very savoury style of wine here that is dry with lots of Japanese tea flavours along with Briar, and a touch of dust from the oak.

It doesn’t have a lot of length and is fairly medium bodied but sits pretty neatly in the easy drinking style of wine along with some cheese and crackers.

Sells for around $12.00, it is the current vintage and don’t bother putting it in the cellar. Drink it now! Unlike port, it’s more of a summer red than a winter one, as it is only 12.5% alcohol, it doesn’t have the warmth of a big Barossa red nor the body to go with those bigger hearty winter dishes.

Bleasdale Frank Potts Langhorne Creek 1998

"the Reverend wants a drink"

Bleasdale is the second oldest registered company in South Australia, therefore it has history by the bucket load. Twenty one year old former British sailor Frank Potts, the founder and first winemaker arrived in Adelaide in 1836 aboard HMS Buffalo alongside the State’s first Governor.

The winery is named after Reverend Bleasdale who gave the family a great deal of solace in those tough early days by preaching the virtues of wine.
Frank first learnt shipbuilding as his trade in his new country working with Australian red gum timber which he later used to build the winery. It still has a massive red gum lever wine press which is made from an entire tree. His love of red gum also inspired him to build his own coffin from it, which he used to store apples until he was ready to use it himself.
Frank also built flood gates on the Bremer river next to his vineyard and these 100 year old flood gates are still employed to deliver the rich alluvial silt from the river to the thirsty vines.
Five generations on, the Potts family still own this winery and make all the wines. The wines are indeed rustic and old fashioned but that’s certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.

This wine is their flagship and is named in honour of Great, great Grandfather Frank. We opened this wine after 10 years, OOPs! Cellaring recommendation was only 5-6 years but I think winemaker Michael Potts was erring on this side of conservative caution.

This is a true Bordeaux blend comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit verdot, Merlot, and Cabernet franc. The nose is fruitcake and port. The palate is smooth, with flavours of chocolate and Christmas pudding, and some vanilla from the American oak. It is full bodied, with a tongue kissing texture that finishes with cinnamon and eucalyptus, (maybe it’s red gum).
This wine is good stuff, dressed with a hat (on Frank’s head), and 3 gold medals at the time of purchase in 2001.
Price at the time of purchase was approximately $24.00 , current vintage 2006, retails for around $30.00 . A great example of why it pays for families to maintain hold of a business. The passion and desire to maintain family traditions definitely shines through on their wines and the winery has recently been refurbished complete with a little museum. Well worth a look.

Metala Langhorne Creek Shiraz Cabernet 2007

"the prodigal son returns"

Metala is an iconic Australian wine brand, and was the winner of the first ever Jimmy Watson Trophy in 1962 with their 1961 vintage shiraz cabernet. That wine was made by Brian Dolan, and in later years his son Nigel took over the winemaking reins and won his own Jimmy Watson trophies in 1992 and 2003 under the Saltram label (part of the same company).

This wine is a return to that old fashioned earthy style of wine that has helped make Langhorne creek famous, as well as confirm Shiraz Cabernet blends as a truly Australian style of wine.

Langhorne creek is located 70 Km South East of Adelaide, and this vineyard like many in that region are on rich alluvial soils alongside the Bremer river. Periodic floodings of this river deliver ancient silt into the vineyards that flavour the grapes with a dark chocolate earthiness which makes them quite unique.

Even though this region can get fairly warm, the breezes off nearby like Alexandrina cool the grapes and stop that cooked sensation coming through to the wine, not unlike the cooling ocean breezes that deliver God’s air conditioning to the Mclaren vale region down the road.
If you like an old fashioned style of red wine that will keep led in it’s own pencil, then this one is for you. It has a big 15% alcohol content but rather that tasting over the top, it just delivers a mouth filling desire to drink more.

The wine is meaty, and earthy on the nose, with the meat and leather flavour coming through on the palate. It has a virtual spice rack of white pepper, nutmeg and cassia, along with flavours of blackcurrant, eucalyptus, mocha, and licorice. Even though the wine is big and brutish, the tannins are soft, a bit like your big rugby mate with a heart of gold. The length is impressive for a wine of this price, and even though it is now part of the massive Fosters corporation, this wine seems to have become less homogenised then most in their stable and has remained true to form. Even the labels have remained fairly similar to those made in the sixties.

This wine is normally priced around $19.99 a bottle, and there are still stocks of the 2007 vintage around which you will regularly find on special. Buy a dozen, drink a bottle every year till it runs out, and watch this wine evolve into a great wine at a bargain price.