Ulithorne ‘Paternus’ Coonawarra/McLaren Vale Cabernet Shiraz 2019

We have moved to a diam closure here, rather than the usual screwcap. The bottle is of such weight that you might need to alert Health and Safety! It continues this estate’s impressive presentation. This is a blend of 88% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon from a single vineyard on terra rossa soil, which receives 10 days skin contact; and 12% McLaren Vale Shiraz from the Blewitt Springs sub-region. That vineyard is ‘sand over clay’. The winemaking incorporates small batch ferments, 15 days skin contact, 12 months oak maturation, then blending and a further 6 months maturing.

The colour is a very dark maroon. The immediate aromas are of dried herbs, warm earth and then a sweet core of black cherries and chocolate. Full-flavoured and concentrated, the wine is impressively balanced. It really picks up on the palate. Good acidity runs the full length of the wine. It is certainly delicious now, but it needs time to really show its full glories. A serious wine, it has ten to twenty years ahead of it. Big, bold and impressive.