Kym Tolley Wine Co. The Last Emperor Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2022
- 96
- $125
- Drink by: 2026-2040
Share
As the one and only wine that Kym Tolley releases these days, it is fitting that it should be a classic Aussie red. Cabernet Sauvignon (56%) and Shiraz (44%) come together in this country so naturally, and Tolley knows his way around the regions where the grapes shine: Coonawarra, Barossa Valley and McLaren. A pre-release tasting reveals a youthful wine, one that benefits from a decant or air – the longer it remains open, the more presence the wine has, it knits better. A little more Cabernet than the previous release and there is a more marked leafiness emerging with earth, undergrowth, black berries, cherries and plum fruits, spice, jalapeño and dried herbs. All round lively, fresh with good concentration and agile tannins present, but it remains a wine still settling down into its groove. Built for time in bottle before release, it is on track for a strong showing with a growing complexity – and potential for more – when it is released.
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.
