Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: If I could be a Cabernet Sauvignon, I would like to have been born in the Barossa. The 2017 Château Tanunda Grand Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon is an excellent drinking, red wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings a rush of ripe fruit and power onto the palate. Serve it with grilled beef kebabs, and make sure to get the meaty ones. (Tasted: January 31, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
A little dusty and austere at the start, it takes some swirling in the glass to eke out other aromas like black currants, raspberries, dried herbs, cola and briny black olives. The palate is more giving, though, with silky, tangy fruit and spice padded in savory tannins. There's a fair lick of oak here, but in the end the fruit wins out. Drink now–2027.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.