Fontys Pool Cabernet Merlot 2007 (Manjimup, Great Southern, WA) $18, Screwcap

After the notably impressive, crunchy Fontys Pool SBS of last week, I pulled this out with a sense of hope….Have Fontys finally ‘cracked it’? Have they capitalised on their beautiful setting to (finally) produce wines of distinction? Or will this be another weedy, challengingly meaty non event, blunted by unripe fruit & brett…

Bang! Cue the applause! Streamers & balloons fall from the ceiling as Daryl Somers mysteriously appears with a winners trophy…
The trophy is for this very impressive wine: built in a delicate, well balanced style of real drinking appeal that I can’t help but appreciate.

Purple/mahogany red in colour and rather dark considering its quite mid weight stature, this wine opens up with some distinctively cool climate Cabernet aromas – leafy, dusty, dark berry fruit that’s ripe but appropriately herbaceous. The palate follows the same formula – herbaceous, but not green, & refreshingly light, with cedary, lightly minty fruit that is similarly well handled. Did I mention oak? No, no sign of it. Alcohol? Perfectly ripe @ 13.5% – a commendable figure that suggests well sorted viticulture indeed.

The message here is balance. Some people may find this a little too herbal, but to my tastes this is a near perfect cool climate Cabernet. Ridiculously good value too. 18.5