Parker Estate 2021 Terra Rossa Cabernet

Classic Big frame Coonawarra Cabernet here, but with good discipline – sweet black currants, cigar box oak, dried herbs and a hint of mint. Good depth and intensity of flavour, just right line and length, and a fine-grained tannin finish. It hasn’t hit the shops yet, but it’s worth the full price. 94+ points. BUY.

Let’s celebrate wines that over-deliver. We need more of them. Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa falls easily into that category. This is $34 worth of determined flavour delivered in a warm, inviting embrace. It’s cabernet sauvignon down to its bootstraps, but far from vegetative. Instead, we enjoy aromas rich in a budding generosity in blackcurrant, mint, earth, anise and lively spice. Quiet but determined is the best description. Spice-laden flavours mix with black fruits across a wide, flavour-packed palate with an additional touch of dried herbs, a black olive savouriness and lasting spice. The oak deserves special mention - 12 months in 100% French oak, 40% new - and its sweet oak cedar, toastiness really brings something extra together with a delivery of fine tannins. What value here! Now, I’m not suggesting for one moment that the maker put the price up. No! What I am suggesting is we enjoy this wine for its utter deliciousness and fair price. I can count on all fingers and toes wines that don’t deliver at their price point. This isn’t one of them.

Matured in French oak (40% new) for 12 months. There's good power here, good weight, with warm-hearted blackcurrant flavours as the drivers but with saltbush, garden mint and toasted cedar notes pushing through. It pushes ripeness without overstepping the mark to any serious degree, and it feels mouth-filling and confident throughout.

Seeking a solid representation of Coonawarra Cabernet? This Terra Rossa label from Parker Coonawarra Estate nails its time and again. Actually, it's better than solid as it continues to gain ground and no doubt a new legion of fans. That ochre label gets me each time I must admit - it speaks so much of the country. Blackberries, blackberry jubes, black currants, dark chocolate, licorice, cassis - all the joyous things you'd come to expect with a Coonawarra Cabernet. Fine spices are scattered about as my favour continues to surge with the drying and talc-like tannins on close. No one gets disappointed here.

A stylish offering, the complex bouquet shows blackcurrant, smoky bacon, thyme, almond and warm spice aromas, leading to a wonderfully weighted palate that's succulent and finely textured. Chalky tannins offer excellent structure and frame, finishing sturdy and persistent.