Yalumba The Cigar Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Founded in 1849 by English brewer Samuel Smith, Yalumba is Australia's most historic family-owned wine company, now spanning six generations of the Hill-Smith family. Fiercely independent and deeply committed to sustainable viticulture, Yalumba crafts all of its wines using wild yeast fermentation and minimal intervention, allowing place and variety to speak for themselves. The Cigar takes its name from the distinctive cigar-shaped strip of rich terra rossa soil that defines Coonawarra, one of Australia's most celebrated wine regions. At the heart of this strip lies the Menzies Vineyard, Yalumba's Coonawarra estate, where the combination of iron-rich red clay over limestone, pure artesian water, and a long, cool ripening season produces a particularly structured and herbaceous expression of Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2020 is a lovely, bright, and fresh Coonawarra Cabernet, vibrant and deep magenta in the glass. The nose is immediately inviting, offering rich aromas of blue and black fruits, blackcurrant, black olive, spearmint, and cedar, layered with notes of anise, tobacco, dark chocolate, and sandalwood. On the palate, flavours of blackcurrant, plum, blueberry, and ripe currant are lifted by clove spice and a hint of eucalyptus, with dark chocolate and mint lending depth and complexity. The wine is medium to full-bodied with fine, mouth-filling tannins and balanced acidity, leading to a lingering and succulent finish. Already approachable, it has the structure to reward further cellaring.