Joshua Cooper 2025 Bendigo Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Balgownie Old Vines’

"The Lafite of Central Victoria." — Joshua Cooper

"Aeration quickly focuses Joshua Cooper's 2025 rendition of Cabernet Sauvignon from the small remaining parcel of old vines that Stuart Anderson planted at Balgownie in 1969/70. The vineyard's unique terroir is on fulsomely ripe display in this solar vintage with a deep, near impenetrable aromatic wall of dark, black cherry interwoven with fresh marjoram and oregano. There is ample complexity even if the wine is years of showing its best, with Nori seaweed, wet ironstone, Nicaraguan Maduro tobacco, blood orange, and spice pantry in supporting roles. The palate is fresh, still youthfully vibrant with an immense and latently deep fruit presence. The tannins alone require their own sentence. The great hallmark of this site, along with its telltale aromas of cherry, oregano/marjoram, and ironstone/ferruginous shale, is its tannic profile. Unique among Victorian Cabernets, there is a wonderful sensation of layering, with fine strata further adding to the impression of depth. Sage, blood orange, red and black (never sour, though) cherries, shale lead the flavour array with pennants of oregano, dried seaweed, and crushed blackberry fluttering along the edges as the parade tapers off. An estuarine saltiness blends with wet shale and fresh orange rind to inflect the close. Sweet fruit and black Yunnan tea linger. Only just shaded by the 2024. Nonetheless, exceptional." — David