2020 Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon

Rich and fleshy yet solid in it’s structure with a long, deeply fruited yet quite robust conclusion.

Totally opaque black dark red colour with a dark red black tinged hue. Intense blackcurrant and liquorice aromas are melded to vanillin cedar, earthy tobacco, subtle black olive and bay leaf notes. Rich and fleshy yet solid in it’s structure, the medium to full bodied palate is decorated with ripe blackcurrant and liquorice fruits. Unfolding across the back half are vanillin cedar, tobacco, earthy black olive and bay leaf accents. A firm, sturdy tannin structure imparts a gentle chewiness onto the mouth feel. Concludes long and deeply fruited yet quite robust.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 14%

Other Reviews…..
The 2020 The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon is incredibly perfumed. The wine has been made from this vineyard in Coonawarra since 1987, and in 1993 Yalumba purchased the land. From 1993, Yalumba reworked and replanted much of the Cabernet Sauvignon, with more purpose and intention for their purposes going forward. This included changes to viticulture, clones, irrigation... the whole lot. The wine today is showing incredible aromatics: purple berries, pressed flowers, graphite, cold tea and tapenade. The tannins on the palate are shaped by Yalumba coopered oak, utilizing French oak for this cuvée; they're smooth, chewy and fine yet pervasive and shapely. This is a lovely wine, with dried mint, sage leaf and brine, just super. The 2020 vintage in Coonawarra was typified by low yields, small berries and a cool ripening period. Balance is the name of the game here, and the future is bright for this wine. Drink 2025-2045.
95 Points
Erin Larkin – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate

It's immediate that The Menzies vineyard makes wine of robust pedigree. Sapote fruit, blackberry jam and crushed cocoa nibs. There is a mesh of grainy tannins that begins to unfurl and takes a long moment 'til it subsides. Along the way the coils of pomegranate fruit shine through with sweet tobacco and clove studs. The fresh acidity climbs in time with the notes of spice. Hazelnut skin and mocha make appearances. It's a very detailed wine that takes you on a journey from foraging for berries, to coffee roasting plant and roasted nut stall. Drink by 2034.
95 Points
Shanteh Wale – James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion

Famously named after our longest serving Prime Minister, who expressed his admiration for a previous incarnation, the Menzies Vineyard, planted in 1975, sits on terra rossa soil at the heart of Coonawarra. The usual plan is for the wine to spend a year and a half maturing in a mix of French and Hungarian oak, hogsheads and barriques, with a small percentage new. Under cork. A deep red/ maroon colour here, the nose is utterly gorgeous and will delight Cabernet fans immensely. We have cassis, tobacco leaves, a touch of leather and animal skins, mulberries, woodsmoke, chocolate, florals, blackberries and aniseed. This is seamless, has excellent oak integration and good intensity, with a very long finish. Well structured, the balance, intensity and finesse never waver. Satiny tannins are found on the persistent finish. Twelve to twenty years. This is one of the best Menzies I have seen. Drink 2025-2045.
95 Points
Ken Gargett – WinePilot.com