Geoff Merrill Parham Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
- 95
- $95
- Drink by: 2023-2038
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The wine is named after Geoff Merrill’s grandfather who made it past his 102nd birthday, which he apparently attributed to “smoking, drinking and having fun”. We should all be so lucky! The team select their finest Cabernet barrels, re-blend and give the wine further maturation – 30 months in all. The split is 85% McLaren Vale and 15% Coonawarra with only a few barrels ever made. The nose has tobacco leaf notes, black olives, blackberries, cloves, a hint of soy and beef stock. There is a mere whiff of the Cabernet herbaceousness we have come to expect, and plenty of chocolate notes which persist on to the impressive palate. Fine tannins giving noticeable grip to the overall length, which is excellent. A wine for the long haul, drink over the next ten to fifteen years.
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.
