Brown Hill Bill Bailey Shiraz Cabernet 2019
- 94
- $85
- Drink by: 2022-2032
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The great Aussie blend is encountered less often in the West than we find throughout most of the rest of Australia. On this evidence, perhaps winemakers in WA might like to rethink that. This is a gem. It might be the proverbial broken record but Margaret River enjoyed another fine vintage in 2019. Both varieties were sourced from a small block on their single site vineyard, handpicked and hand sorted into a tank for co-fermentation. Pressed into a mix of French and American oak barriques for 18 months. The best barrels were then selected for blending for this wine.
An attractive deep red, this is youthful, still melding, but it is showing some serious promise. There is some oak evident, but the richness of fruit is key here. Chocolate, coffee beans, spices, new leather and blackberries. Love the balance, the focus, the line and the drive with silky tannins. Impressive now and it should improve further over the next decade.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
