The Family Selection range is the fancy end of the Zema Estate range, although, at just $50, it’s not a fancy price. Indeed, it’s mad that a current release, six-year-old Coonawarra red, is $50, too. is even more remarkable when you think about it, given that, on average, it costs a few dollars per bottle per year just to store the stuff in bottle. A dense, old-school, powerful Coonawarra red it is, too, with proper dark dusty berries, some spearmint Cabernet charisma, coffee oak, caramel and leather. There’s a rough edge of tannin and alcohol and acidity, but that also jams rams home that this is an unapologetically full-bodied and substantial red in the meat-and-potatoes Coonawarra mode.
- Best drinking: now and for another decade easy
- Score (out of 20): 17.7
- Score (out of 100): 92
- Alcohol %: 12.5
- RRP (in $AUD): 46
- Winery website: https://www.zema.com.au/
- Would I buy it?: A glass or two
THE VERDICT
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Comment
Indeed A$50 is a good price for the Zema Estate Family Selection Cabernet. It was quite some time ago, back in 2001 when I visited the estate, that the 1998 was priced at around the mid-$30s. I should have bought it, but instead, opted for a pair of each of the 1999 Cabernet and Shiraz. Back then, when I was younger, quantity trumped quality, not that the two ’99 were not good. At the time I felt that the depth and structure warranted a 10 to 15 year future. Too many bottles and not enough time spent at home means that those wines are now 25 years old. Thank goodness my wife and I enjoy mature wines.