Harewood Estate Shiraz Cabernet 2020
- 93
- $21
- Drink by: 2022-2030
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Proving that the team at Harewood can do just as well with reds as their famed whites, this classic Aussie blend of Shiraz and Cabernet from the Great Southern region is a cracker. The Shiraz hails from Frankland River and the Cabernet from Porongurup. Individual parcels underwent fermentation in small open fermenters before spending 18 months in French oak barriques to mature. Fining is with egg whites.
A deep crimson in colour, this is a beautifully elegant style of red, yet certainly not lacking flavour, intensity or underlying power. Restrained, poised and balanced, we have notes of leather, animal hides, chocolate, blackberries, tobacco leaves, a tiny touch of raspberries and dry herbs. A hint of a vanillin note from the French oak is evident. The wine is beautifully focused, the texture supple, the tannins silky and the finish long. More elegant than is traditional with this blend, but then this isn’t the Barossa and the wine is a very impressive one. Six to eight years, by which time, it will surely deserve a higher score.
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.
