Lindeman’s St George 2018
- 93
- $70
- Drink by: 2024 - 2035
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I am old enough, just, to remember the fuss about the 1980 St George. Another Jimmy Watson winner, it was hailed as the future of the Australian wine industry. This was the style to which all Aussie Cabs would aspire. Whoops. Yes, I managed to spend my hard-earned and picked up what bottles I could (most of them ended up in auctions). This was, unfortunately, during an ill-conceived period where winemakers thought our reds should be minimal alcohol, lean, even green. And few wines were greener than this one. Sadly, age only accentuated the issues. Imagine soaking green peas in a can of asparagus juice and you are getting close. Fortunately, that is long in the rear-view mirror. The 2018 is chalk as to cheese.
100% Cabernet from the 16 hectare St George vineyard. Deep magenta, dry herbs, tobacco leaf, blackfruits, warm earth and the merest whiff of mint, so classic Coonawarra Cabernet characters. Juicy flavours lead to firm tannins and plenty of them. Bright acidity and impressive length round out what is a wine with a long and promising future.
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.
