Petaluma Coonawarra Evans Vineyard Cabernet Merlot 2019

Everything about this wine screams the traditional character of Coonawarra, the name of course, and the front label’s subtitled Evans Vineyard, established by the legend himself Len Evans, raised to fame by Brian Croser from the late 1970s to the turn of the 21^st century, lately in the Petaluma portfolio now under the control of Accolade Wines. The varietal makeup in this vintage is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot, the result a classical regional expression: cassis and dark chocolate, embedded mint, a brambly note, then deeper down a suggestion of plum liqueur aromatics. These all play again in the mouth, with a regional chalk dustiness, varietal tannins integrated, feathery and long lasting, the palate lithe and balanced. A finely built Cabernet benchmark that has delivered cellar worthy wines for more than four decades. And it drinks superbly right now as Spring lamb comes into our kitchens.