Around the world in six Cabernets

Lovely fruit with vibrant flavours and a well-structured finish. This château has gained in elgance and depth recently and its 2014 is all in balance for a good future.

Made by top winemaker Louis Strydom from five clones of Cabernet, grown on gravelly soils at 250m altitude and matured for 17 months in a mix of new and old oak barrels. This is a serious and elegant Cab with pure bramble fruit, inky, minty, liquorice notes and firm but fine tannins.

The TH (Terroir Hunter) range is a dynamic portfolio of wines from a company established in the late 19th century when Don Franciso Undurraga imported vines from France and Germany. This classy, sophisticated example is blessed with blackcurrant, red pepper and buckets of character.

A textbook Cabernet Merlot blend with black berry fruit aromas. It’s complex and full of flavours offering notes of plum and blackberry. Tannins are soft and well-supported by the cedary oak characters on the finish.

Dr Tom Cullity, Vasse Felix’s founder and a Margaret River pioneer, focussed on Cabernet Sauvignon from the off; Vasse Felix has made a Cabernet every year since 1972. The 2012 blend comprises 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. It is a spicy, gravelly Cabernet with dried herbs, balsamic and chocolate notes to its bright, juicy blackcurrant and plum fruit. The fine tannins are polished and very elegant.

Lean, spicy, menthol nose, has a welcome cool edge and stylish blackcurrant fruit. Precise, silky and reasonably fresh, concentrated, with ample fine-grained tannins.