Château Tanunda 50-Year-Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
- 92
- $80
- Drink by: 2024-2038
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Statuesque and firm in structure but so fine in detail, this 2020 Cabernet reveals the innate beauty of the grape in the Barossa. The grape might be outnumbered in hectares planted by Shiraz, but Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon, especially off old vines, is something to behold. The lead into the 2020 vintage was far from ideal – dry and hot – but the old vines came through with class. Inviting aromas of black fruits, cassis, nutmeg, cedary oak, sage, oregano and jalapeño. Shows its fuller side sure enough, but the ripe tannin structure – not to mention, the herbal influences that so distinguish Cabernet – work in unison to present an integrated whole, that allows the finer detail of clean, bright fruit and spice to show through. Precision plus! Has time on its side.
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.
