[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 7: Australia]

For me, it’s hard to find aged examples of these big wines (in our market, anyways) that seem like they’re more appealing when they’re big and fresh and loud, but it’s always interesting to see what happens to the volume over time. In this case, the deep garnet wine gave notes of big black fruit, cola, mint, and eucalyptus, but there were also evolved notes of soy, leather, and coffee. Full-bodied and viscous, and surprisingly still fresh on the palate with distinct acidity and pronounced but fine tannins. The finish was slightly clunky, where there was a hint of a funky metallic thing going on, but overall I was quite pleased.… read more

[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 7: Australia]

This was the penultimate wine in the flight, and it was chosen to provide a contrast to the last wine. They obviously differed in age, at first glance, but the instructor also wanted to display the different manifestations of greenness. It’s one of my favourite things to teach, because I love telling the story about how my friend and I thought that the Château Cailleteau Bergeron 2012 Sauvignon Blanc had a distinct note of marijuana (though the vintages on either side were more distinctly grapefruit-scented). In this case, apparently Margaret River Cab has more of a minty character opposed to the classic eucalyptus note of Coonawarra Cab.

It was amazing how mouth-coating the flavours were without bringing down the animated freshness, like an umbrella keeping your socks and smiles dry during a rainstorm.… read more