Not my photo (thanks Mudgee Tourism) but a correct picture. Nice blue check shirt.

Mudgee Gold Cabernet Shiraz 2009 (Mudgee, NSW)
13.5%, Screwcap, $60
Source: Sample
www.mudgeewine.com.au

Clever concept this. Each year a blend is made of gold medal (or points equivalent) winning Shiraz and Cabernet wines from the Mudgee Wine Show. This vintage sees contributions from Andrew Harris, Broombee, Burnbrae, Frog Rock, Queens Pinch, Robert Oatley and Robert Stein. Plenty of likely producers in that lot. Just one barrel of this wine was produced (which also helps explain the high pricetag).

What I most like is just how distinctively regional it is – Mudgee through and through. It smells exactly like it tastes too, a congruency that is admirable. Medium bodied and structure driven, that distinctive Mudgee earth is all through the wine, the nose more Cabernet, the sweet fruit mid palate more Shiraz. There is an aloof bitterness to the tannins that not everyone is going to like, but the quality of the tannins is unquestioned.

A wine that should make tasty old bones (in a very regional way). Mudgee wine fans get on it.

Drink:2012-2025+
Score: 17.8/20 92/100+
Would I buy it? I admire this red but don’t love it enough to buy it, particularly at the pricepoint.