Pirramimma Katunga McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
- 93
- $70
- Drink by: 2025-2040
Share
My first thought was why would someone name a McLaren Vale Cabernet after a Bond villain? Perhaps they were big 007 fans. Turns out that Katunga is the local term for low she-oak scrub, so not very MI6 at all. From a superb McLaren Vale vintage, the wine spent three years maturing in a variety of French oak. An opaque maroon, the nose exhibits chocolate, mocha, coffee grinds, truffles, bay leaves, cocoa powder and inevitably some of that oak, but it is deftly handled. Big and bold, this is a really good warmer climate Cab. Still youthful with satiny tannins and a long, lingering finish, the palate sees emergence of blueberry notes. This wine will provide immense pleasure over the next ten to fifteen years. And yes, I am aware that the villain in ‘Live and Let Die’ was actually Kananga and not Katunga, but close enough.
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.
