Kilikanoon Tregea Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
- 96
- $96
- Drink by: 2022-2032
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The comments on the Block’s Road Cabernet, pertaining to the glories of Clare Cabernet, apply three times over here. This is a serious Cabernet which can sit comfortably with the nation’s top examples. The small parcels of grapes see open fermenters and
are then basket pressed to a range of French oak barrels, some new and some seasoned, for 18 months. It is bottled without filtering or fining. Maroon in colour, this is richly flavoured with notes of chocolate, cassis and blackberries. Cigar box, mulberries and tobacco leaf notes, with a hint of the traditional Cab herbaceousness, but it is simply there as just one more factor contributing to the complexity. There is exceptional oak integration too and impressive length. The palate is juicy, ripe and supple with bright acidity and finishes with the silkiest of tannins. A really exciting Cab. Terrific now, but there is real potential here. Who knows just how good it could be in a decade.
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.
