Reynella Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
- 95
- $76
- Drink by: 2024-2032
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McLaren Vale Cabernet from a great vintage. This might not offer the immediate and classical varietal characters one expects from Cabernet, but it does provide compelling evidence that warm climate Cab, in a top year, can be a superb drink. The wine spent time in the best French oak available with the colour still an opaque purple, suggesting that this is a younger wine than it is. That time in bottle has allowed for development, as gradual as it is, but also the emergence of complexity. We have notes of tobacco leaves, black fruits, a hint of campfire and warm earth. This falls into the savoury end of the spectrum. Plenty of grip here, firm tannins leading to an even firmer finish. A wine with balance and length, and excellent persistence. McLaren Vale Cab from a top year with some maturity. Excellent stuff and will drink well for at least the next six to eight years.
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.
