Varietal:Â Cabernet Sauvignon
Region:Â Coonawarra, Australia
Cost:Â ~$13
Winemaker’s Notes:Â The marriage of Coonawarra’s unique limestone and deep red terra rossa soils gives birth to a magical Cabernet Sauvignon with the exquisite cassis character typical of the Coonawarra region. Velvety tannins balance the textured sweetness of the fruit.
My Review:Â I’ll be the first to admit that better than half the reason this bottle was purchased was because of the label. My wife is a Forensic DNA Analyst, and a wine label designed to look like a finger print was definitely appealing and amusing to us. Fortunately, there happened to be some pretty good wine in there too.
In the glass the wine was a dark purple color, while on the nose I picked up dark berries and cassis. In the mouth the wine was smooth, with good notes of dark cherry and a nice velvety finish. While there is certainly plenty of fruit in the wine, it doesn’t fall into the trap of being a fruit bomb, something I’m happy with in a sub-$20 Cabernet.
Paired up with some pizza the wine was great, and for the price it’s perfect for just such an occasion, though I think it’d have held up well against something fancier off the grill as well to be honest. Manikay makes a few other varietals (a Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir), and we’ve definitely got them on the list to try to see how they compare to the Cabernet we already enjoyed so much.
Definitely worth a try, especially for the price.
