What’s Happening to Australian Cabernet Sauvignon?

Gary Baldwin, one of Australia’s leading winemaking consultants, says there will be cabernet sauvignon hanging on the vines after this year’s harvest in the Yarra Valley has finished. It’s also possible that there might be some merlot and shiraz as well, but not quite to the same extent. He’s also prepared to suggest what many people would once have considered unthinkable – that there might be some Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon destined for the same fate. Baldwin also says there’s nothing wrong with the cabernet he has seen but expects not to be picked. To the contrary, he reckons her could make some pretty darned good wine out of it. So what’s going on?

There’s little doubt that the Australian market for cabernet sauvignon has diminished rather significantly. This is dramatically reflected in the asking price for cool climate cabernet sauvignon, which you could obtain today for the mere cost of picking it. Two years ago it cost $1500-$1800 per tonne.

Australians are prone to responding to market trends in wine, and are now drinking shiraz like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve little doubt that much of the reason why Australians have forsaken cabernet for shiraz is to do with the deluge of skinny, weedy greenish cabernets that have been produced by the truckload from cooler regions in the south-eastern corner of the country, the cooler regions of Western Australia and the inland areas of New South Wales like Cowra and Orange.

Too many vineyards in these and other similar cooler southern regions have been established to cabernet sauvignon with little regard to generally accepted requirements of site, trellising and anticipated cropping levels, ie too much cool-climate Australian cabernet is grown in vineyards that never should have been planted to this grape, are set up and managed incorrectly, and to add to the felony, are significantly overcropped.

Cabernet’s profile has undoubtedly suffered. Too many people are now making it to taste rich, soft and sweet, just like much of the shiraz that is so popular today. In fact, the situation facing cabernet producers today is exactly that of shiraz makers in the late 1970s and mid 1980s before Australia rediscovered its shiraz. Back then it was always treated as a second-class citizen behind cabernet sauvignon, given older and inferior oak, and would never be harvested in preference to cabernet grapes that had reached what was back then considered to be optimal maturity. Today there’s no doubt at all – cabernet sauvignon is the second-class red citizen in this country.

Despite that, there are some very fine wines made from cabernet sauvignon and its blends with other red Bordeaux varieties. Here’s a list of consistently top-level wines I’d happily drink:

Top bracket:

Cullen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
Mount Mary Quintet

Second bracket:

Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon
Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Petaluma Coonawarra
Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Katnook Estate ‘Odyssey’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Lake’s Folly Cabernet Sauvignon
Orlando Jacaranda Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon
Primo Estate Joseph Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Rockford Cabernet Sauvignon
Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Wantirna Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1
Yeringberg ‘Yeringberg’

Third bracket here are just a few examples:

Houghton Jack Mann
Lindemans St George Cabernet Sauvignon
Majella Cabernet Sauvignon
St Huberts Cabernet Sauvignon
Yarra Edge Single Vineyard Please login to post comment