On the nose, there is already open and lifted cassis, bramble and black cherry fruit, with sweet herbaceousness (mint) from the Cabernet and a hint of blueberry, damson and violet from the Marselan. On the palate, it is full-bodied, with relatively well-integrated 15% alcohol, angular but also rounded tannins, some supporting acidity and a decent core of ripe dark fruit with that relatively harmonious new-oak component. What impressed me for an initial outing for this wine is the fruit selection that must have occurred to manage pyrazine so well and how the sometimes chunky, upfront tannins of Marselan have been nicely blended here with the Cabernet. RP
The wine leads with black cherry and star anise, raspberry, mulberry and black peppercorns. There are notes of warm baking spices, cinnamon cassia and fresh grated nutmeg as well. Here, the Cabernet is from Shangri-La, and the Marselan is from the Ningxia region. In the mouth, the wine is concentrated and a little syrupy, yet it achieves a sense of place and tastes very much like a Chinese wine, despite the influence of Australian winemaking philosophy. RP