Woodland Cabernet / Merlot, 2008

Woodland
Margaret river
Cabernet/ Merlot
2008

   The woodland I came across was because I have become genuinly interested in Margeret River lately, The woodland top shelf I am familiar with. However, in the search of good value plonk, this Cabernet / Merlot proved to be more than just 'plonk'.
    Being a 2008 the nose threw a rich stalky texture a little menthol infact, the wine is too young i thought but through its youth came a well rounded fruit feel of blackberrys and a little dark plum. Quite intiesing and i could see that the aromatics were in balance, this would be an interesting wine to lay down for a while and allow those stalky textures to tone themselves down a touch.
   At first the wine showed an intense stalky feel ofcourse but after 20 minutes the green notes sliped into more of the structure of the wine rather than the centre peice and fruit weight became complemented by an extremly velvety tannin influence, overall acidity was in balance and I could really see some real production skills at work in this wine. The merlot is not here to drive the wine but merely to cut the edges of the youthfull west coast cabernet and it will continue to keep this wine like velvet throughout its life, but as the cabernet loses its green notes I expect the middle palate to lift and start working with the back palate in a way that will allow these velvety tannins to come to the fore and retain a fairly dry crisp finish.Often 'crisp' is refered to when discussing white wine but in this case it refers to the finese of the wine and the belief that the fruit will retain a refined feel throughouit its life and not develop into a flabby of stewed fruit character.
   Personally  I would like to see this wine in 5 years but also curious about its ability to keep improving with further age.

4 / 5 case rating
5- 10 years cellar
classy good value catagory
5 / 5 for good value
screw cap seal
value-$20.99 / Dan Murphys- fine wine

Leuwin Estate Cabernet 2004

   Sometimes we try a wine when it is too young like an 04 Leuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet with layers of green capscicum and menthol strengthened by tight youthful acidity hiding the fruit that we all know is in their somewhere, this was by no means a bad experience. Rather an insight into just how much classs and finese the Margeret River region can throw into the top shelf . The wine may have needed another ten years but I cant help thinking about the importance of blending in WA, many of the west coast growing regions are heavily influenced by a maritime climate this leads to a Mediterainian style of viticulture similar to Rhone or Bordeaux so I look at other top shelf success stories from the west such as the Cullen, Madeline who use Cabernet and malbec blend to tone down the dominant green textures thrown forward from Cabernet, creating a wine of balance from the begining right through its 20 years of life. The art series is one of the most collected and sort after wines in Australia and I can see why, the wine has the character to change quite often throughout its cellar life which means that one must have enough on hand to experience this. Expensive, yes! good value, absolutly!    Other times we experience a wine when it is over the hill and past its prime,where we could not pry it from the cellar in time and we realise that somebody had most likely broken into the cellar and stolen the fruit. such as the Redman 78 I have in my cellar that I am quite concerned for.
   Then we have the occasions where we negotiate our way through the cellar only to come out the other side with liquid velvet layered with aromatics of sweet fruit textured with firm and inviting tannins that have risen to the fore, relagating the once dominant oak to the obligations of balance in order to give the wine a feeling of finese and refinement. The Clare Valley palate was just perfect, seemless and the more blackberrie textures tended to be joined by well balanced acidity that assisted by draging the fruit feel to every part of the universe, the tannin structure that was quite obviouse on the nose formed more of an assisting role on the palate helping to give the wine firm edges and a firm lingering finish, the drying feel was great and good to experience a wine packed with Natural Tannin

I give both wines a 5 / 5 case rating
both were cork seal
5 / 5 for good value drinking
personal preferance - undersided!
Comming features - 08 Woodland Cab, Merlot
                               09 Grant Burge Shiraz