I’ve often wondered if Yarra Valley Cabernet actually sells (if you’re not Mount Mary/Yarra Yering, that is). Does it? I know in retail the regional style has fans, but it’s a particular taste. A bit esoteric, a bit cultish, a bit Melbournian.

Anyway, I ask because I rather like this First Foot Forward Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, and it’s so well-priced that my brain started wandering off on sales tangents. Squirrel! Nearly everything with a First Foot Forward label is a winner, for that matter, with Martin Siebert making just good Yarra wines under both this, his own label, and the Tokar Estate name. This Cabernet comes off the Tokar Estate Vineyard, FWIW.

A little spearmint here, but it’s not unripe – cool year, yes, but it’s dense and rather bold. Not old school claret, so more blackberries rather than mint and cedar. Clever oak – fine-grained, polished vanilla stuff. Great flow to the palate here, too – that blackberry fruit fills out the middle, but with proper chewy Yarra Cab tannins. I like the chew. I like this wine all over, actually. Maybe a little ripe but not overdone at all. I enjoy the finish and texture the most, with the tannins and depth that comes from extended time on skins.

Best drinking: good now, likely better in 2-3 years time and then drink over a decade. 18/20, 93/100. 14%, $32. First Foot Forward website. Would I buy it? Well worth a bottle at this price.