Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot 2003 from Australia

A full-bodied wine this week that's not for the faint-hearted. It’s a whopping 14½% alcohol and not very tannic. It has a lovely deep garnet red colour with a bouquet of redcurrants and an oaky background. This follows through to the taste which is full of fruit to the extent that the wine's high alcohol level is masked.

It’s been given a D for full-bodiedness (on the A to E scale). This is a well-balanced wine with a long tasty finish. It is a wine to drink on its own or with roast beef or lamb. The recommendation is that it’s consumed within a year of purchase although it’s such a tasty wine I’d drink it straight away.

The provenance is the Forest Hill vineyard at Denmark a town in the south-west corner of Western Australia, about as far south as it’s possible to go in the state. The climate here by the sea at 35º is a lot more comfortable for grapes than the very hot environment 200 miles north in the Perth area.

A lot of claret is made using these same grapes, but the Australians have taken advantage of the benefit that 10º of latitude nearer the equator can give, and exploited the best attributes of both varieties. Cabernet sauvignon is a tough grape owing to the fact that its pips constitute one twelfth of the volume. Therefore this makes the wine a lot more tannic and this is where the softness of merlot comes in.

There is a feeling in the wine trade that this region is set to become one of the top regions of the 21st century. The blend here has been expertly done.

This very good wine is sold at Sainsbury’s for only £5.79 - that’s £1.20 off the normal price and a real bargain.

18/04/06