Juniper The Tribute Block 7 Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Let’s hear it for the vineyard. Or, to be precise, Block 7 in the Juniper vineyard in Margaret River. Tribute is named to honour Block 7 and it does a mighty persuasive job of celebrating the synergy between soil and grape. Aromas of black fruits, dried herbs and dusty, earthy woodsmoke are beautifully in sync. Slips easily into top gear offering a plushness of  ripe black fruited intensity enveloped in gentle herbs and spices. A whisper of Aussie bush and bay leaf gives a hint of its Margaret River location, its terroir. Fine cut tannins are even handed, and the finish is long and powerful. A second or malolactic fermentation has tamed some of the grape’s noted tannins, but Tribute remains firm in structure and capable of many more years in bottle.

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