Cabernet Sauvignon in 2011: General observations
The annual Cabernet Sauvignon review has been completed with rather impressive results. Of the 196 wines entered, 24 wines received a rating of 4 Stars and higher, with three wines scoring 4.5 Stars and more. Unfortunately no wine was judged worthy of 5 Stars. These statistics show a marked improvement on last year’s numbers – in 2010 only twelve wines received a rating of 4 stars and higher, although there was a higher number of 4.5 Star wines; six in total.
Out of the top performing 24, one was from 2006, eight were from 2007, 10 were from 2008, 4 from 2009 and one from 2010, suggesting that 2008’s reputation as a “difficult” vintage might have been exaggerated.
The panel, consisting of Christian Eedes (chairman), Miguel Chan, Carrie Adams, James Pietersen and Angela Lloyd, was overall impressed by the pure, clean fruit on display.
As for the less successful wines, panel members detected the spoilage yeast Brettanomyces in quite a few cases, while there were quite a few wines that showed premature evolution, the result no doubt of high pH values.
Overall, however, Cab is an exciting class which seems to be enjoying some kind of resurgence, having been out of fashion for a while. It has certainly become one of the bigger classes that the Wine magazine panel has to tackle in the last few years, the product perhaps of the growing realization that it produces happier wine across all price points than green Merlot or boring Shiraz.
