2006 Tahbilk Cabernet Sauvignon – Nagambie Lakes (Retail)

Is there a winery producing better quality, cellarable reds in the sub $20 price range in Australia at the moment?

I’ve had more of their Shiraz than Cabernet, though I really enjoyed their 05 Cabernet. I think I like the 06 even more.

It’s a savoury, somewhat rustic wine that tastes like it’s a Tahbilk, and yet it has enough clean, tasty fruit to keep most people happy. It has a perfumed nose with some floral, violet aromas, along with blackcurrant, earth, and well integrated oak. On the front palate there is some nice sweet fruit, but from there it’s all savoury. It’s long and nicely balanced, with hints of mint and salt, and a dry finish of some nice sour and bitter flavours. The tannins are a superb element to this wine. They’re very fine and integrated, but nevertheless noticeable in the way they provide weight and structure to the wine and give it its dry, slightly puckering finish. This wine will do 10 years in a canter and how much longer than that probably just depends on how well you cellar it. Superb wine for the price.

Details
Rated:


RRP: $17
ABV: 14.5%
Website: www.tahbilk.com.au


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2006 Tahbilk Shiraz – Nagambie Lakes - $15 (Retail)

Last year, Brown and I consumed a 1991 Tahbilk Shiraz. It was one of my most memorable wines of the year. Part of the wine’s appeal on that evening was the fact that it was still drinking well. At 19 years of age, and under cork, I had doubts as to what would be revealed once the cork was popped. Would it be past it, would it be corked? Happily it revealed itself as a beautiful, aged Shiraz. From that point onwards I resolved to buy at least a few bottles of this wine each vintage. At $15 a bottle it’s one of Australia’s best value, cellar worthy reds. Onto the 2006 . . .

This was a wine that just got better and better the more it breathed. Initially all I could really say for the nose was that it had a deep aroma of dark fruits and some nice oak. It evolved beautifully and I gradually picked up berry and plum fruits, some earthy/leathery characteristics, and just a hint of eucalypt. The palate was nicely balanced between sumptuous fruit at the front, and lovely savoury flavours on the finish. It had nice length, drying tannins, and a persistence of flavour.

A beautiful wine that is just going to get better with age. I’d be leaving this for 10 years, and I reckon it would be worth leaving at least one bottle in the cellar for a 20 year stint. Based on the quality of this wine, along with its pedigree, I reckon it will go the distance, and happily, being under screwcap now, you won’t have to fret about the vagaries of cork!


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