Australian Cabernet Sauvignon: panel tasting results

Sarah Ahmed, Justin Knock MW and Julia Sewell tasted 83 wines with two Outstanding and 33 Highly Recommended.

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-vintage Cabernet Sauvignon reds (minimum 85%), labelled as either Margaret River, Limestone Coast or one of the GIs within Limestone Coast

Australian Cabernet Sauvignon panel tasting scores

83 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 2

Highly recommended 33

Recommended 34

Commended 11

Fair 3

Poor 0

Faulty 0

First Coonawarra, then Margaret River put Australia on the map for world-class Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite opening this tasting up to South Australia’s wider Limestone Coast region (which includes the GIs of Mount Benson, Mount Gambier, Padthaway, Robe and Wrattonbully as well as Coonawarra), disappointingly only three producers outside Coonawarra sent a wine.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring Australian Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is undoubtedly planted in the right place in both Coonawarra and Margaret River and is expressed with nuance and flair across the price spectrum.

Praising their distinct identity, Justin Knock MW said: ‘The great surprise remains that the top Margaret River and Coonawarra wines are still so modestly priced compared with the best Cabernets from almost any other world region.’

There was consensus among the judges that Margaret River (51 entries compared with 29 from Coonawarra) had the better day. The region scooped the two top-scoring Outstanding wines and fielded the higher proportion of wines earning Recommended and above (65% versus Coonawarra’s 35%).

With different soils (largely terra rossa over limestone in Coonawarra, and ironstone gravel in Margaret River) and different climates (continental in Coonawarra, maritime in Margaret River), it was natural to expect distinct expressions. Julia Sewell’s expectations about ‘Margaret River showing finesse and quiet power, Coonawarra being more bombastic and punchier’ were met.

We found a more emphatic single-varietal focus from the South Australian region. This translated into a narrower bandwidth of flavours, focused around classic blackcurrant and cassis, cedar and cigar box and a signature black olive, liquorice and earthiness – there was barely a whisper of stereotypical mint.

See all 83 wine notes and scores from Australian Cabernet Sauvignon panel tasting

In Margaret River, greater use of Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc to lift aromas and flavours accentuated the wines’ perfume and elegance associated with the region’s temperate climate.

Cabernet is king in Western Australia, yet South Australia is synonymous with Shiraz, which also helped explain differing styles, said Knock. ‘Coonawarra is emerging from the ripe shadow of Shiraz.’ Hence, he said, the region’s Cabernets were more open, rounder and richer than those from Margaret River.

Perhaps we caught the tail end of overripeness/overextraction with the older Cabernet vintages from Coonawarra. Or the wines may have been unrepresentative, given that even modestly priced Coonawarra Cabernet can age exceptionally well. The region has seen a return towards medium-bodied Cabernets. And, as elsewhere, the shift towards greater restraint with oak in the Coonawarra wines was notable. Mostly well integrated, it supported the length of fruit.

The detail shone in the Margaret River wines, with notes of sage, kelp, ironstone and bitter chocolate aplenty. Particularly impressed ‘by the sense of regional confidence’, Sewell noted ‘the Wilyabrup sub-region surely deserves its own GI – as perhaps do others’.

Concluding that the majority of Australia’s best Cabernets originate from Margaret River, Knock was also struck by ‘a confident style that has never really erred or been out of fashion’.

Top-scoring Australian Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the panel tasting

Wines listed below scored 90 points or above

The judges

Sarah Ahmed is an awarded wine writer, educator and judge who specialises in Portugal and Australia. Publishing her own website thewinedetective.co.uk, she regularly judges in Australia and in 2017 was named Honorary Australian Woman in Wine.

Justin Knock MW is director of wine for luxury wine company Oenogroup, providing his extensive experience in wine production, distribution and marketing. He is the Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Chair for Australia.

Julia Sewell is a wine consultant and educator offering services via juliasewellwine.com. A DWWA judge, she began her career in restaurants in Melbourne, Australia before moving to the UK and working at The Fat Duck in Bray, Hide Restaurant Mayfair and Davy’s Wine Merchants.

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