d’Arenberg Coppermine Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (McLaren Vale, SA)
14.5%, Screwcap, $70

Source: Sample
www.darenberg.com.au

Easily the most impressive of the 2009 d’Arenberg super premiums, the extra warmth of 09 softening the varietal characters a fraction (it’s more Vale than Cabernet) but also helping to make this more mouthfilling.

Like the rest of the top d’Arenberg’s, this is foot-trod, open-fermented, basket-pressed and made from fruit that comes off vineyards that are run with no fertiliser. It might be the power of suggestion, but I think you can see that languidness in every fibre of this wine, if still cast in that concentrated, grape-essence like concentration that many 09 (warm year) Vale reds show.

Perhaps the only distraction here is a little meaty (‘bitter chocolate’ as Halliday calls it) feralness here, which rolls all the way through to the drying, black earth finish and gritty tannins.

Ultimately a winner thanks to that fullness, softness and intensity of fruit, this is good stuff (and already drinking well).

Drink: 2013-2022
Score: 17.7/20, 92/100
Would I buy it? Maybe drink a few glasses, but not sure if I could manage a whole bottle.