Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon 1500ml 2019

95 POINTS

Shanteh Wale - Halliday Wine Companion

Prune plums and blackcurrants. Violets, lavender leaf and black cherry. Olive tapenade, rosemary and crushed black peppercorn. The wine is held together by a fine mesh of grape and subtle oak tannins, intertwined with pure Coonawarra cabernet fruit. It’s chiselled in its dimension, and you might miss it, as it has such great drinking pleasure. Fruit purity, lovingly handled equals total seduction.

94 POINTS

Tom Kline - Winepilot

From The Menzies Estate vineyard situated in the heart of Coonawarra. Blackcurrant, bay leaf, pan juice umami and whispers of mint are followed by earth, graphite and an underpinning of cedar. A very gratifying mix of fruit and umami savouriness showing nice lift and glide through the palate which is full bodied but fresh. Blackcurrant, cedar, liquorice root and earth make way for tinges of graphite and mocha before gravelly tannins and a burgeoning acidity wrap it up and pull it long through the mouth. Very long, in fact. There’s a lot to like here, for its elegance, savoury complexity, and long, even length. This will show beautifully following a decade in the cellar. Right now, however, It’s screaming out for a perfectly cooked piece of eye fillet.

94 POINTS

James Suckling

Blackcurrants, black beans, bitter chocolate, tobacco leaves and cardamom on the nose. It’s firm and chewy with a full body and fantastic intensity. Dense black fruit at the core, framed by firm but very fine and polished tannins. Try from 2025.

93 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2019 The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon hails from a cooler season than was experienced by the Barossa, but it still was a warm and dry season. This vintage was picked a month earlier than the 2014 tasted alongside. On the nose, the wine leads with cassis, dark chocolate, tobacco, leafy mint and black pepper. In the mouth, the tannins are firm and dry, but the fruit has lovely freshness and tension with the acidity. This is very good. It's lighter than I expected from the season, but very well handled. 14% alcohol, sealed under cork, 6.2 total acidity, 3.57 pH.

92 POINTS

David Sly - Decanter

Tightly wound at this juvenile stage, but with the right attributes to suggest strong potential. Rich aromas of blackcurrants, mulberry and plum mingle with nutmeg, cinnamon and wildflowers. A firm palate is wrapped with tight, fine-grained tannins, but a pleasing final note reminds that this rigid youth has a warm, generous heart.