Tasting Bench
CABERNET The King of Reds
WITH A NEW ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING’ ENFORCED FORMAT, A REDUCED DRINKS TRADE TASTING PANEL RESUMED DUTIES TACKLING THE “KING OF RED WINE” – CABERNET SAUVIGNON. TRAVIS FULLER AND SCOTT MCWILLIAM TASTED 88 AUSTRALIAN CABERNETS (INCLUDING BLENDS), ACROSS 5 VINTAGES – FROM 2014 TO 2018, WITH ASHLEY PINI IN ATTENDANCE AS SCRIBE AND TIE-BREAKER FOR THE AFTERNOON. COVID RULES WERE ADHERED TO, SO THE PRESSURE WAS ON.
THE PANEL
Scott McWilliam is a sixth-generation family member, Global Ambassador and Wine Educator for McWilliam’s Wines. Scott is a fully qualified winemaker and international wine judge, with over twenty years’ experience in the global wine industry, including making wine in both France and USA. Our second panelist, Travis Fuller, is a highly-regarded wine judge, educator and marketer also with over 20 years-experience. Travis has worked on many of Australia’s most revered brands including: Penfolds, [yellow tail], Hardys, and, recently, as the Fine Wine Director
44 drinks trade
for Pernod Ricard Winemakers. Each year Travis, along with Scott, heads across to Mundas Vini – the world’s largest wine show – representing Australia as Jury President. {Ed. news, as we go to print, Travis has been appointed as general manager for Kilikanoon Wines}. As usual, the rules were simple: all samples are tasted blind from samples submitted by Australian producers and distributors. Wines must be commercially labelled and available to the Australian trade. Varietal, region and price point are ordered and disclosed to the panel.
THE VERDICT
“I was a little surprised by the variation in styles, more so due to winemaking than regional characteristics.” “Overall the samples were very good stylistically, and showed us a broad spectrum of cabernets”. “When we tasted the cabernet blends, we found some didn’t come together cohesively. The better ones had a richness and a structure to them that showed off the best of each varietal blended together” 11 wines were considered outstanding, three from the cabernet dominant blends category, and eight straight cabernets.
