Wine of The Week - Kilikanoon Blocks Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Blocks Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($29.99)

I have long been a fan of Coonarwarra Cabs but it wasn’t until recently I considered trying a Cabernet from much further north in Clare Valley, a region neighboring Barossa and Eden Valleys which is, as far as red wine is concerned, the homeland of Shiraz. Today’s wine of the week, Blocks Road is from Kilikanoon, based in the heart of Clare Valley, a region also known more for producing Australia’s finest Riesling, but which, as I now know, also produces, terrific Cabernets too.

Kilikanoon is one of a growing number of producers in South Australia making wines that directly compete with their old world counterparts. The style of founder and head winemaker, Kevin Mitchel, is informed by a relationship with a couple of producers in the Loire and Rhone valleys in France, where he has managed to take time off and assist with their vintage. Kevin and his team (including his family) have done a cracking job with their Cabernet, where this influence is readily apparent. Careful pruning and harvesting of the vines has enabled the most interesting qualities to be extracted from the grapes. Achieving a balance between ripe fruit and herbaceousness in the Cabernet grapes helps a wine hold on to its sense of terroir.

Fresh blackcurrants and plums are neatly woven together with an array of garden herbs and garrigue. Precise and integrated on the palate, the 14.5% alcohol is very well hidden, as it is by no means overpowering. 24 months in a mix of small, new and old, French-oak casks has given this wine good depth and a velvety mouth feel. There is lots of life on the finish, marked by a bright acidity, something which combined with all its other attributes gives it great cellaring potential over the next 5 to 10 years.

Blocks Road is the best of both worlds, new and old. There are still bales of Ozzy charm oozing from the glass and yet somehow it has a lightness and restrained quality you would more readily attribute to something from the Gironde. However no matter what comparisons you can draw, this is simply a stunning wine that anyone interested in seeking out a relative bargain should try.

I opened this wine on Sunday afternoon with a group of friends to go with a leg of lamb I grilled on the barbeque, see recipe here,accompanied with the tomato and potato gratin listed below it. The two were sublime, I highly recommend trying this dish out with a few glasses of Blocks road while you still have the barbecue out in the remaining few weeks of Summer.

Felix Milner