Geoff Merrill G&W Coonawarra McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Whatever one thinks of the wines made by Geoff Merrill (hopefully, good things), there is one thing that he and his team seem to do better than anyone else. And that is offer excellent wines with considerable age under their belt for amazingly little money. If you doubt me, this is a prime example. The ‘G’ here stands for Graymoor, a vineyard in Coonawarra, while the ‘W’ is for Wickham Park in McLaren Vale. The blend tends to slightly favour Coonawarra and the wine will usually spend between a year and a half and two years maturing in a mix of American and French oak hogsheads, around one quarter of them new. The wine then spends a considerable time in bottle in their cellar. The quality of the 2018 vintage shines through. Deep maroon with a russet rim, this is an attractive and mature style, already offering good complexity. The nose gives us aromas of tobacco leaves, chocolate, kirsch, black fruits, leather, cloves, coffee grinds, charcuterie and even a touch of vegemite on toast on the palate. There is good length here, through to fine tannins and the wine is well balanced. Enjoy it now, although it surely still has at least a decade ahead of it.