Brand & Sons Old Town Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

If the Brand name here looks familiar, it should be. Sam Brand’s dad, Jim, was owner and chief winemaker for Brands Laira before the family sold to McWilliams in 1991. Some core vineyards were kept by the family and today find expression under Sam’s label. Old Town is one such vineyard. Like its Shiraz sibling, it brings a seeming lightness of touch, an elegance that is so, so attractive and, when tasted, so more-ish. And like its sibling there are heady aromatics at play. Bright, sultry aromas led by aniseed, allspice, dusty cocoa, chocolate and, yes, Coonawarra black fruits aplenty. The excellent 2021 vintage is captured through ripe, dark fruit nicely countered by a marked herbal presence in thyme, rosemary and black pepper. Cabernet’s generous natural tannins are noted. The lick of licorice allsorts/pastille confection layered throughout is a bit of a head turner, an added attraction to be sure.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic