Winemaker Notes
Vegan and Vegetarian Friendly
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A deeply inviting nose of blueberry, purple cherry and cassis. Plenty of violets as well as stony layer. The palate has the same pond of creamed caramel oak influence. Tannins are approachable with plenty of engagingly chewy presence.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon leads with cassis and dark chocolate, dried mint and dark spice. In the mouth, the wine is full of cigar box, tobacco and cracked black pepper, with a cocoa-laden finish. It is fresh and balanced and has plenty of time left to go. It is powerful but not blocky. 14% alcohol, 3.54 pH and 6.3 total acidity, sealed under cork. Rating: 93+
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Decanter
Named after the prime terra-rossa-based source vineyard acquired by Yalumba in 1993, this medium-bodied, juicy Cabernet Sauvignon with fine grained tannins majors on elegance over extraction. With lively ping-pong tension between its fresh blackcurrant, lifted dried herbs and lick of bitter chocolate, it’s stylish and highly accessible. Aged for 20 months in a combination of French hogsheads, 36% new, and used American, French and Hungarian hogsheads and barriques.
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Wine Enthusiast
This Coonawarra Cab comes from a 45-year-old vineyard in the region’s famed terra rossa soils. A little shy at first, a ecanter is recommended. It opens to an intensely herbal nose, swimming with mint, black olive tapenade, currant, black cherry, dried flowers and a medicinal and charred oak note. The palate is rich and mouthcoating, cinched by dusty, muscular tannins. It lacks some of the elegance and complexity of other top Cabs but is nonetheless highly cellarworthy. Drink 2021–2040.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Yalumba Menzies has been one of the stars from Coonawarra. The 2014 vintage shows off Cabernet Sauvignon at its best. TASTING NOTES: This wine is rich, powerful, and stately. Pair its black fruit, pencil lead, and earthy aromas and flavors with a slowly-braised beef stew. (Tasted: September 24, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
An elegant red, with currant and strawberry flavors showing restraint, accented by loam and toasted herb notes. Shows off sage, rosemary and mineral details. A spicy tobacco hint lingers. The tannins are firm but never get in the way of expression. Drink now through 2033.
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.
Distinguished by a thin, subterranean band of crumbled, red clay loam, Coonawarra is a fairly flat, otherwise unobtrusive region with a cool Mediterranean climate, actually not dissimilar to Bordeaux.
In Coonawarra, this unique layer of red clay is called, "terra rossa" and gets its color from iron oxide. The terra rossa soil overlies soft, penetrable limestone, in a continuous area that is part of the Limestone Coast zone of South Australia. This uncommon layering of soils creates a substrate that is both well draining and at the same time, offers good water retention to support vine roots through dry summers.
Not surprisingly, Coonawara experiences great success with the Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but also Shiraz. However Cabernet reigns superior and accounts for half of the Coonawarra harvest each year. Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon develops powerful, yet polished tannins, ripe, red berry fruit and often sweet herb or dried mint qualities. The region has an increased focus on the individual expressions of single vineyards.