A good month for Vasse Felix Margaret River Cabernets

With a focus on three of the world’s great Cabernet regions –  Bordeaux, Margaret River & Coonawarra – Decanter’s latest (June) edition might be dubbed “Red Obsession.”  Highly recommended and averaging 17.75 points, Vasse Felix’s 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon sat very comfortably within the top ten wines of the Margaret River/Coonawarra  panel tasting.   And May might well be dubbed Cabernet month by Vasse Felix whose flagship Heytesbury Cabernet has been promoted to the “Outstanding” category of the new Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine VI while the Cabernet was promoted to its “Excellent” category (though note Max Allen’s cautionary note about this year’s promotions here). 

This week I sampled the 2011 vintage (a great year for Margaret River), together with Vasse Felix 2011 Cabernet Merlot and its 2009 Heytesbury flagship Cabernet blend (from an outstanding Cabernet year).  Below you’ll find my notes but, in case you don’t review the latest Langton’s Classification, two more Cabernet promotions caught my eye.  Great to see Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet from Coonawarra elevated to the top tier “Exceptional” category and Woodlands Family Series Cabernet from Margaret River leapfrog the “Excellent” category and make the cut for “Outstanding.”

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2011 (Margaret River)

This approachable but classy medium-bodied blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 6% Malbec shows off the juicy fleshiness of Merlot and Malbec, while the Cabernet brings line and focus to the finish.  Since her arrival in 2007 Virginia Willcock (pictured) has brought brightness and elegance to the estate’s wines – whether entry level (like this wine) or top tier.  A subtle lift of perfumed, dried herbs edges its (predominantly) plum and blackcurrant fruit.  Fine tannins add to its fluidity as does its lightly worn oak (the wine spent 12 months in French oak, 8% new).  Very good. 14.5%  £13.95 at Wine Direct.

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 (Margaret River)

As you’d expect, the Cabernet Sauvignon (in fact a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec, 0.5% Petit Verdot & 0.5% Cabernet Franc) is firmer of structure and more intense in flavour.  Very classic in its perfumed blackcurrant, riper cassis and hint of tobacco.  Fleshier mulberry to the mid-palate is kept well in check by fine but textured, powdery tannins which bring precision to a firm, persistent finish with rich but vividly fruity balsamic notes and a lick of cedar spice (it spent 18 months in French oak, 43% new). 14.5% £21.50 at Wine Direct.

Vasse Felix Heytesbury 2009 (Margaret River)

The Heytesbury is a barrel selection of the best parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon (69%), Petit Verdot (16%) and Malbec (15%) and this vintage was aged for 18 months in French oak, 62% new, 38% 1-3 year old.  It has a very attractive polish and lift of classy wood.  Dense but layered its deep, dark berry and currant fruit is deliciously leavened with notes of dried herbs, eucalypt, balsamic, cigar box and pencil shavings.  A long finish reveals an undertow of gravelly minerality which pushes out beyond the fruit. 14.5%  £41.95 at Wine Direct.