Brand’s Laira Blockers Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
- 92
- $28
- Drink by: 2021-2030
Share
This is serious Cabernet at a very “drink-me-now” price. Ripe blackcurrant, plum jam, and dense, rich, black forest cake filled with fresh cherry coulis fruits, and lots of sweet baking spice from some time in oak. At five years old it’s showing some lovely complexity with forest floor, bay leaves and plump Kalamata olives – subtle, but hinting at what’s ahead. Rich and silky on the palate, the fruit is a little fresher here. Cabernet Sauvignon can sometimes be divisive with austere tannins. Not this time – some bottle age and careful handling has yielded ripe, savoury tannins that are drinking beautifully now and will allow for further cellaring. Drink with roast sirloin and crunchy rosemary crusted potatoes.
Nicole loves wine. So much so that she gave up a successful career in Pharmacy, perfected her spitting technique, and moved from sunny Queensland to the wine-drenched laneways of Melbourne. Stints in hospitality, wineries, retail, sales and marketing filled the next few years while Nicole built her knowledge and searched for the right path. She completed the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Diploma in 2016 and became a certified WSET Educator the following year. She now juggles a number of roles including teaching people about wine, curating wines lists for restaurants and bars, judging in Australian wine shows and, of course, writing. In 2016 she won the Negociants Working With Wine writing award and has since contributed to Gourmet Traveller WINE, Halliday Wine Companion Magazine and Nourish Magazine.
