Tahbilk Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 (Nagambie Lakes, Vic)
13.5%, Screwcap, $24.80
Source: Sample
www.tahbilk.com.au

There’s a wonderful heartiness to the Tahbilk Cabernet that, regardless of the vintage, gives you an impression that this is ‘real wine’. It’s likely a combination of the dry, firm and ageworthy style, but also there is something innately Australian about the whole Tahbilk approach that helps ‘make’ this wine – a no-nonsense red made by no-nonsense winemakers.

This 2010 version of the Tahbilk  Cabernet is right on track to be called a ‘classic’ too, if in a warm year mode. It smells already quite secondary and earthy, but , the nose already quite secondary, leathery and licoricey. The palate too is perhaps a little roasted, with a pronounced baked earth character, but still the hearty, ‘drink forever’ style built in that dry, dusty, tannic Tahbilk way.

Hardly a remarkable wine, but so solid and ageworthy that its worth recommending.

Drink: 2014-2030
Score: 17/20, 90/100
Would I buy it? Only if I could forget about it for a decade. Then probably yes.