Review: Zema Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

The bread and butter wine for Zema and reliable in its style. This warm-year Zema Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is a hearty beast though.

Think sappy, dry and tannic Coonawarra Cabernet in a traditional mode. Unpolished and honest. Still plenty of youthful fruit too, despite clicking over towards three years in bottle, with that minty berry fruit kicking on. Gee it’s minty and firm, and the oak is drying and the whole thing sort of dries out your life on the finish. It’s powerful, staunch, a bit unrelenting and raw, but that’s also the charm. Will also live for decades. You know what you’re in for here, even if I couldn’t drink much myself.

Best drinking: probably later. Five years will be kind. 17/20, 90/100+. 14.5%, $29.99. Zema Estate website. Would I buy it? Just a glass.