Vasse Felix ‘Filius’ Cabernet-Merlot, 2020, Margaret River, Australia
Another Australian red wine at £10 a bottle, another average red, well no. This is a step or 2 above most in the under £15 bracket. Dry and pretty bold but not sledge hammer bold. Black and red fruits with a bit of spice and rounded but firm tannins. Great with red meat or pasta. Alternatively in front of the fire watch TV.
Robert Oatley, Cabernet Sauvignon, Signature Series, 2019, Margaret River, Australia
This Cabernet Sauvignon from Robert Oatley is a big red wine showing off the heat of Australia. Dry, solid tannins but pretty smooth. I think a few more years laying down would help to soften it a bit more. The flavours are intense with blackberry and hedgerow berries, leather, oak are in there but that intensity is a bit over the top.
A rich beef strew or bbq would pair with this wine very well. At £13 a bottle it’s reasonably price but not my first choice.
Its a bolder Chardonnay than some people will like. There’s aromas of ripe tropical fruit, lemon and oak, its quite heady. There are flavours of stone fruit and a creaminess but its a heavy Chardonnay, eps with the oak notes. The finish is pretty long but that’s not a big positive.
In some ways this is an Australian Chardonnay that so many people expect. I would have liked more subtle flavours and lots less oak. Maybe if we had left it for a few more years it would have got better?
At £15 a bottle there are better out there.
Brash, Chardonnay 2017, Margaret River, Australia
Aromas of ripe citrus, esp pineapple with added oak on the taste buds and a little oiliness. This is a full textured wine, yet it has a light lemon colour making you think that its going to be light and friskie. This is a great example of what Chardonnay can be. It got a bronze at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2018 which I think was mean, for me silver, solid silver. Fantastic.
Coward & Black, Chardonnay 2017, Margaret River, Australia