Cabernet Sauvignon of CURRENT Note
wines by KT Castine Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (Clare Valley, SA)
Sweet fragrant plum skin and autumn—just-fallen, comforting, damp—deciduousness. Get’s juicier and juicier—mulberry-ish—and there’s inky violet carbon paper glinting in and out. The fruit is blue becoming blacker as it blooms. As it soaks up air, there’s molasses flake tobacco*. Some bark and seaweed too. Sharp, edgy, as mulberry-blackberry on the tongue, and builds dusty into melty tannins in an Italianate—Tuscan—way. Actually no: they’re authentic—Clare cabernet tannins such as you will encounter in a Wendouree*. It bursts with summer pudding pippy fruit as it flows too. Flavour flave. 94(95)/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋(😋) - $60 cellar direct. Will shape out further in a few more years I reckon, although my tasting history of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Castine vineyard is limited.
* As it happens there were two Wendouree wines—the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Malbec—as well as Grosset's Gaia, Lake Breeze Arthur’s Reserve and others in the line-up in which I encountered the above. So, it was in classy company indeed. Grosset’s Gaia ’22 is one of the finest reds I’ve ever encountered from Clare. As is the Kerri Thompson Howarth Vineyard Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon (reviewed on this page).
* Also I can—or used to be able to—distinguish burley and brights from latakia, and the like, as in a past professional life I used to blend pipe tobacco. Flake tobacco is pressed with sugar syrup, concentrated fruit juice or any other thick, sweet liquid. Maybe ‘burnt figginess’ might assist as an alternative descriptor for those unfamiliar with the evils of pipe baccy.
But it’s not unusual to find tobacco references in the descriptors used in reviews of Cabernet Sauvignon, especially ‘cigar box’. As they both—the divine grape cabernet and the evil leaf tobacco—share distinctive pyrazine compounds. So to do many other adored substances—chocolate, tomatoes, potatoes—which returned with seafarers following exploration of the Americas, the so-called 'New World'.
Yalumba ‘The Menzies’ Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra, SA)
There’s a sniff of peat in here. Some tarriness. (So my Coonawarra Wynns ‘91 thing wasn’t too far off.*). Fab fruity Assam tea leaf and eccles cake. So latently complex this. Loganberry leaf and pips drift in and around too. Seriously deep, sparkly, forest berry fruit in here, which is steeped in stylish wood and formed in terra cotta dusty tannins. The (seriously fine) oak is a component, not a feature. As the wine opens it gets more moist fruitcakey and brandied cherry deep. This is classy cabernet on so many levels. There’s some struck oyster shell among the mouth-aromas and the finish lingers long. 96(97) - 10/10 - 😋😋😋 - $70 cellar direct. Exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon. My usual caveat though: this is sealed with natural cork. So there will be variation. You can ascertain Yalumba’s view on the matter of natural cork closures here.
Readers familiar with my reviews (and views) over the years will know I don’t chuck these sorts of points around with the abandon of some others. Even 95+ is a big call from me. But this is a quite beautiful example of Cabernet Sauvignon, of a standard up there with any (in the world, I mean). Like I say: a big call. I might add that the majority of great international Cabernet Sauvignon is likewise sealed under natural cork.
* Late last year (2025). The Nebbiolo thingsThis clone thing is the same observation I’ve made about Yalumba’s The Signature 2023 and is based on the clonal tasting referred to above.
Unless otherwise indicated all wines reviewed on MY site have been assessed in half-blind, peer-group line-ups. You’ll observe that I publish two ratings for each wine reviewed. The score out of 100 (e) is my ‘empiric’ evaluation, based on the palate memory filing cabinet I’ve accumulated having tasted many thousands of wines over a few decades. The second score out of 10 is my ‘hedonic’ (h) score, which is much more personal, and indicates how much I ‘like’ a wine. I believe that the two marking propositions provide a more nuanced approach to ‘rating’ wine. You’ll find detail about the distinction of my hedonic x empiric evaluations here. Any emojis I append should be self-explanatory. 😀