Jancis's Cabernets

The Queen of Wine...

Jancis Robinson may be the best known master of wine in the world. We have followed her columns for about 20 years and the great thing about her is she's really easy to read. She doesn't spend time likening wine to esoteric flavours that you'll never come across. She writes like she's at your house for a Sunday Roast.

So when we saw this weeks column where she is extolling the virtues of Australian Cabernets, the worlds most grown grape, we couldn't help but send her a message of agreement.

Cabernets are often hidden away in Blends, like Bordeaux from France, or the Super Tuscans from Italy. Or they are bold and brash, from the west coast of America. What Jancis highlights is that Australia has found that perfect middle ground of producing soft, but complex Cabs that are just beautiful on their own, not hidden away with other varieties.

We are fortunate at Australian Vintners to be able to bring you Cabernet in whatever style you like. We have the beautifully bold, California Cab style Redheads 2020 Whiphand (£42 per bottle, £210 per case of 6). Its grapes come from the same area of the Barossa as one of the most expensive producers in Australia, and you can see why.

A more nuanced Cab and Merlot dominated mix Oakdene Bernard's Cabernets 2020 (£24 per bottle, £144 per case of 6) from our new producer, whose style from the Morning Peninsula allows the tannins to remain smooth, with a little pepper on the finish.

And then a perfect Aussie blend, the Auld Family Wine Wilberforce Cabernet Shiraz 2017 (£17.50 per bottle, £102 per case of 6). This is a wine with plenty of age - 2017 - and a huge amount of depth and smoothness. It's a great wine with food, or just over a chat with friends - and at £17.50 a steal! We served this at the Aussie Rules Final and the feedback was amazing.

We know it's sometimes difficult to make a decision, so we'll do 2 of each in a case for £167.