Robert Oatley Limited Release Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

The old timers in the Barossa Valley will tell you that, in the right years, cabernet can be a star. The problem is that Barossa Cab is simply not trendy. It is not Bordeaux or Margaret River or the Napa, of course, but if that is what you want, buy them. No, in a good warmer year you’ll get a delicious, lavishly flavoured red. 

The 2017 vintage saw largely average temperatures with a couple of warmer periods interspersed and well-timed rain. This contributed to richly flavoured, full-bodied wines of excellent length. Made by the highly regarded Western Australian winemaker Larry Cherubino, a fair distance from home, one of the exciting things about this wine is they way that the oak has so beautifully integrated with the fruit, almost transparent and so finely balanced. It underplays its role perfectly. 

The colour here is vibrant bruised purple/dark red. The immediate aroma is plums, blackberries and with chocolate notes. This is both plush and with broadness. There are notes of prunes and a slight hint of tomato bush. The palate is smooth and supple, finely balanced, and extends past mid-length. There are the silkiest of tannins, which just melt away. A wine which should age very well indeed. Towards the finish, the chocolate notes are to the fore and they are matched by a lovely black cherry pie note. Compelling evidence that anyone dismissing Barossa Cabernet is woefully off base.

Ken Gargett

Contributor at Winepilot

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.

Wine writer and critic