Ulithorne Paternus Coonawarra McLaren Vale Cabernet Shiraz 2020
- 96
- $85
- Drink by: 2024-2044
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The wine is predominantly Coonawarra Cabernet, supported with a little McLaren Vale Shiraz. It is undoubtedly a wine built for the long haul, needing time to reveal all its glories. This is a cracker! Not under screwcap, it is an opaque maroon. The aromas give us notes of mocha, chocolate, nutmeg, blackberries, spicy characters, vanilla and licorice. Concentrated, deep and dark, the palate sees the emergence of soy and coffee grinds with a touch of cigar box. Oak is integrating well. Finely balanced, the power is to the fore, but lurking behind that power is some pleasing elegance. Beautifully crafted, this has a lingering finish. Enjoy it for twelve to twenty 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.
