Château Tanunda The Château Barossa Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

The single vineyard source is actually 32 rows of Cabernet grown on the producer’s estate in the Eden Valley. The vintage was blessed with long and cool ripening conditions which shows in a degree more intensity and depth in the ’23 than in the previous release. It has plenty of fruit forward appeal now with the potential for more growth ahead. The scent sets the scene in anise, autumnal leaf, earth, cassia bark, clove, nutmeg – after 18 months in new and seasoned French oak, there’s a fair amount of spice delivered – liberally sprinkled over black fruits. Against a solid backbone of tannin, the palate is both generous and stylish. Woody spice notes galore, vanilla, chocolate, pan forte character with leaf and light herbals and, yes, fruit. There’s a lot happening here but control is dished out by a firm tannin backbone.

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