Zema Estate Family Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Family Selection represents the very best fruit the family can offer. The only thing that would suggest anything to the contrary is the price (not that I am suggesting they increase their prices – Nick will just spend it supporting some very dodgy football teams). The fruit comes from three family-owned vineyards, the fermentation and maturation regime was identical to that of the Shiraz with the difference being that this wine saw only French oak, no American.

Black/purple in colour, there is a really lovely, distinctly Coonawarra and Cabernet nose. Blackcurrants, cedar, tobacco leaf, chocolate, ripe plums, bergamot, black fruits and aniseed. Despite having five years under its belt already, this is still a most youthful wine, one with a long and promising future ahead of it. Indeed, longevity might be where this Cab has it over its Shiraz sibling. Good balance and fine tannins, bright acidity and excellent length. What really sells this wine to me is the gorgeously juicy black fruits which emerge towards the end of the palate. Expect the score to rise over time.