Sunday, April 14, 2013
1993 Petaluma Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot (Coonawarra)
This was courtesy of my aunty and uncle in Canberra, while I was down there last week. They have a fantastic cellar, which includes Semillons and Rieslings from the 70s. While there we opened a ’76 Leo Buring Riesling, but sadly, while drinkable, it was well past its best.
The 1993 Petaluma Coonawarra, however, is certainly not past it, and indeed is drinking very well right now. At twenty years of age there’s still plenty of beautiful blackcurrant fruit, along with sweet cedar, and just a hint of eucalypt. There’s a lovely earthiness that runs its length and sees it finish long and savoury. The acidity and tannins are there if you go looking for them, but they are perfectly folded into the wine at this stage. I’d suggest it’s at its peak now, though it should still age gracefully over the next 5-10 years, cork permitting. Simply put it’s a lovely aged Coonawarra Cabernet and the kind of wine I love drinking.
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2 comments:
Shared in a magnum of 1988 Wynns John Riddoch Coonawarra Cabernet just last month thanks to a friend's generosity. In a beautiful place with more than enough primary fruit and structure to see it last quite a bit longer than the 25 years it had already been through. A treasured experience, much as I'd imagine this 1993 Petaluma proved to be.
Nice one JP. Actually had someone else tell me that they had the '88 John Riddoch recently and that it was drinking beautifully.
Never ceases to amaze me how well Coonawarra Cabernet ages, and how many wines from the this region go from ugly ducklings (relatively speaking) to beautiful swans over the course of a decade or more.
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