Mount Mary - Quintet - 2010

Mount Mary are proper pleased with this release. Sam Middleton, he who now heads the wine team at Mount Mary, said to me at a trade tasting that ‘we’re really pleased with the 2010, things feel right with this wine, a great season for us too. Could become one of our best’. This is a blend of 47% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 14% cabernet franc, 5% petit verdot, 4% malbec. Whoowee, dig this perfume. Really complex aroma spectrum – immediately engaging too. Cassis, dark fruits, touch of briar herbal lift, flash of mint, chocolatey and stubbed out cigar embers. At once cool and rich. Slender ribbons of fruit, acid and fine bony tannin across the palate. Has that succulent but strict feel, like sucking on a hard lolly as it diminishes. Beautiful, medium-bodied feel too – the wine finishes long and pure, eddying with the linger of tannin and powdered slate-like minerality. It’s in that zone of refreshment and elegance, where a repeat visit to the glass is effortless but there’s lots to explore in texture and flavour. Could be a contender for best cabernet (and cabernet blend) for me for the year (2012 releases). 95 Points Mike Bennie, The Wine Front