Dappled 2023 Yarra Valley Cabernets 'Tradition'

Roughly 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Franc (give-or-take a percentage point), the 2023 Dappled ‘Tradition’ is a brilliant mid-violet in the glass and consequently very enticing to the eye. On first pour, this wine is the right mixture of strict and alluring, its cold vintage very apparent to the nose. Fresh red and blue fruits, with tobacco upfront. Aeration brings briar and hedge row, baked cherries, balsam and oak. The palate is brightly accented with light tannins; lunch claret. The Franc makes itself felt here, crisp to the mouth with red fruit, blood orange, tarragon, and thyme. Very moreish.

My wife and I had this wine from my tasting sample at lunch the day after it was opened. It was even more vivacious and had gained significant depth revealing greater salinity to the nose and a good balance between red and blue fruits. The major comment here being that it was simply upsetting that we only had a third of a bottle left over for lunch. By the time we finished our Basque blue cheese, we were looking around for a top-up with none at hand …" - David