Parker Estate S.B.W Cabernet Franc 2024
- 94
- $34
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This marks the inaugural release of Cabernet Franc for Parker Estate in an exclusive small batch production. Six days of fermentation in large format old oak, maturation for five months in a mix of 400L eggs and 400L puncheons. A reverberating, joyful purple colour with a distinct bluish hue, indicating a wine in its prime that likes to show all its youth unashamedly. Both vibrancy and fragrancy translate on the nose, with that typical vinosity of the early years. Lifted floral notes alternate with blueberries, blue plums, strawberries, black currants, oak-derived juniper berries and vanilla, and a savoury edge of pencil shavings. Utterly juicy and refreshing, as it should be, with alcohol in check. I like the chewy nature of the wine; it’s gentle yet playful and cheerful, with blueberry yoghurt and boysenberries adding to the flavours’ profile as it builds up with more time in the glass. Does it feel like a wine that has been closely, and annoyingly, coached to come up as a brilliant, perfect cadet? Yes. But I don’t mind giving it the benefit of the doubt.
Lisa Cardelli is an Italian-born wine professional who has been based in Melbourne since 2010. She worked as a sommelier in some of the city’s leading fine-dining restaurants for over ten years before leaving hospitality to become a wine sales representative. Lisa is now a journalist for Il Globo, the newspaper for Italians in Australia and around the world, where she also curates her own wine column. She continues to write about wine for both local and international publications and is on track to become one of the few prolific bilingual wine writers in Australia. A certified WSET Educator, she teaches at various venues across Melbourne. She also judges at local wine shows and for the prestigious Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards. Lisa was the recipient of the 2022 Wine Communicators of Australia award for Best Published Feature Article, a finalist for the same award in 2024, the recipient of the 2022 Sydney Royal Wine Professional Development Scholarship sponsored by the Len Evans Foundation, and one of twelve carefully selected Len Evans Scholars in 2024.
