There are few more appropriate venues in the Margaret River to showcase great Cabernet Sauvignons from around the globe as, having won back-to-back Jimmy Watson trophies with the 1982 and 1983 Cabernet Sauvignons, Cape Mentelle was one of the first producers to highlight the inherent quality in the wines from Margaret River.
The Cape Mentelle International Cabernet tasting was first conceived by the winery’s founder, David Hohnen, back in 1982 to showcase the finest wines from Australia and to benchmark them against a range of international stars, all from the 1978 vintage. At the time the event very much fit in with the pioneering and experimental philosophy at Cape Mentelle, which also saw plantings of Shiraz and Zinfandel, as well as the regions first of the now ubiquitous Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend.
While benchmark tastings are much more common now, this first event must have seemed brave to say the least. But in the years that have followed, and with the increasing stature and maturity of the Margaret River, it has grown to be a litmus test as to the quality of both Margaret River and Australian Cabernet Sauvignon in a global context. One of the most charming aspects to the day is the outdoor lunch that follows, where all the wines are free to be sipped with a superb menu, this year put together by well-regarded local chef Kate Lamont, plus the optional game of boules to finish proceedings.
In 2008 a superb selection of twenty Cabernet Sauvignon- dominant wines from the 2004 vintage were chosen by the committee, chaired by respected wine judge John Hanley and consisting of the winemakers at Cape Mentelle, including senior winemaker Rob Mann. For the Australian contingent a short list of fifty wines are tasted blind in the lead up to the main event with the top performers included in the International Cabernet tasting.
Last year eleven Australian wines made the grade including Balnaves The Tally, Cullen Diana Madeline, Majella, Moss Wood, Parker Coonawarra Estate First Growth, Penley Estate Reserve, Suckfizzle, Leeuwin Estate Art Series, Houghton Gladstones and Jack Mann as well as the hosts’ Cape Mentelle. 2004 was an excellent vintage for Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, particularly in South Australia and the Margaret River so these wines made up a very strong lineup that was sure to perform strongly. For the international wines nine were chosen, the majority of which came from Bordeaux, with two wines from California, one from Tuscany and the other Hawke’s Bay. The wines were Third Growth Château Calon-Segur, Second Growths Château Cos d’Estournel and Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, First Growths Château Latour and Château Margaux, Château Montelena Monelena Estate and Spottswoode Estate from the Napa Valley, plus the Italian Ornellia and New Zealand’s Craggy Range The Quarry. In Bordeaux, the Napa Valley and Tuscany, 2004 was also a great vintage which made this year’s International Cabernet Tasting a feast of grand wines, all of which have long lives ahead of them.
On the day the wines were all tasted blind and broken into three brackets with the first two consisting of seven wines and the final made up of six. In the first bracket, three wines were standouts. The first was the Penley Reserve (92 Points) from Coonawarra with its powerful, gravelly fruit pastille aromas and well judged oak finishing with attractive generosity of fruit. New Zealand’s Craggy Range The Quarry (92 Points) also impressed with stylish perfumed fruit grounded by a chewy and dense structure. The top wine in the bracket though was clearly the Château Calon-Segur (94 Points) with intense and linear leafy, cassis fruit on a dry and superbly balanced palate bursting with vitality and aging potential.
Bracket two promised a lot and delivered with every wine a sensation. Of the local wines, Balnaves The Tally (93 Points) was true to its Coonawarra origins with compact yet intense cedary fruit complemented by toasty oak and a long finish. However the standout of the bracket and one of the day’s highlights was the Cape Mentelle (95 Points) - ripe yet poised fruit underpinned by a tremendous core of acidity and mouthfilling structure with an almost endless finish make this wine a handsome drinking proposition over the next fifteen years. Sandwiched between the two Australians was the esteemed Château Margaux (93 Points), a graceful wine that showed great class from the first taste with layered violets, mulberry and well-judged oak on a plump palate finishing with fine and dusty tannins - a little closed down for the moment it will almost certainly improve further with age.
There was also a youthful and archetypal Château Cos d’Estournel (92 Points) with dusty, gravel and blackberry aromas on a dry and sturdy palate that will also flesh out beautifully over the next decade. Finally the Ornellaia (94 Points) also impressed with sweet blackcurrant and slightly herbal fruit lavished with toasty oak finishing pure and long with fine, dusty tannins. The final bracket pitched two great Bordeauxs from Château Ducru-Beaucaillou and Chateau Latour against Australian heavyweights from the likes of Cullen, Majella and the Parker Coonawarra Estate First Growth with some fascinating results. Cullen’s Diana Madeline (92 Points) was a more open-knit but not less convincing expression of Margaret River with lifted floral, blackcurrant and olive-scented fruit interwoven with fine, perfectly ripened tannins. In marked contrast was the leafy yet dense Majella (93 Points) with its oaky, blackberry-laden fruit supported by robust tannins and the deeply coloured Parker Estate Terra Rossa First Growth (93 Points) with its decadent, dark berry and black olive fruit on a seamless palate characterised by powerful fruit and a chewy tannic structure. The two Bordeauxs distinguished themselves – the Château Ducru-Beaucaillou (94 Points) the more restrained of the pair with great drive of ripe dark fruit and cedary flavours building layers in the mouth and finishing with milky tannins and fine length. The Château Latour (97 Points), on the other hand, was a youthful and deeply flavoured powerhouse with blackcurrant, thyme and violet aromas giving way to a mouthfilling palate finishing with immaculate balance between complex fruit and a core of sturdy structure. It was a more than fitting end to a tremendous tasting that again revealed the quality and longevity of Cabernet.
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