Monday, November 4, 2013

Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet, 2008

The first vintage of Koonunga Hill Claret was 1976, and we drank many, many bottles of this in 1977-78 when we spent the year in Australia. The wine was about $1.79 a bottle at that time, making it particularly easy to drink. And I have read reports that the same 1976 is still drinking well.

The vintages of Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet on the market today sell for about $8 to $10, and they are equally good values although I doubt that any of them will be going strong even a decade from now. No worry; they're good drinking right now.

Deep and bluish, plenty of new American oak here. Very berry. Blackberry, currants, chocolate and coffee--very appealing. Smooth and friendly on the palate. Chocolate--yes. Also black currant. Typical Australian Shiraz Cabernet style--not much varietal character from either Cab or Shiraz but good in its own right.

No comments:

Post a Comment