My weekend was made just a little bit more special with this beauty of a red wine!! The Cigar Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, 2017.
From the moment I read the name to myself, I thought I had an idea how this wine would taste; ‘The Cigar’. It created an ambience in my mind of a cigar lounge, jazz music, smoky woody aromas…Trust me, it did not disappoint!
Yalumba is Australia’s oldest family run vineyard and has been going since 1849. It is now in its 6th generation and the exquisite wine production continues. Yalumba means ‘all the land around’, in this case the famous ‘terra rossa’ soil right in the heart of Coonawarra. This wine portrays the care, tradition, and high standard that the Yalumba wine estate represents.
As soon as I decanted the wine, the colour captured my attention. Its deep, ruby, red and crimson tones. The good colour and the tannin extraction showed the careful traditional winemaking methods. The skin contact too added complexity to the final wine and the 16 months maturation in new and old French oak barriques, just gives it those more intense vanilla and sweet spice flavours.
I was really impressed with the depth and intensity on the nose with primary through to tertiary aromas, with a noticeable bouquet of lavender and violet. I could tell this wine had a bit of age also due to the tobacco, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate aromas. These developed even more on the palate with even more intensity of blackberry, blueberry, and blackcurrant flavours. I also picked up on hints of mint and milk chocolate flavours on the palate, blending deliciously with the smooth and velvet tannins.
This wine is a winner in so many ways. It is the perfect wine for a meaty, hearty meal. Ideal for summer BBQs! I paired it with bolognaise and pasta. Once it is in the decanter, leave it for a few hours and you can even enjoy it the following day, as the fruit and tannins soften. Sip and enjoy!
