2018 Medhurst Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon | Rare Yarra Valley Cabernet

🔥 2018 RESERVE CABERNET | EIGHT YEARS OF AGE | MEDHURST AT ITS MOST SERIOUS

This is exactly the sort of wine that makes aged releases so exciting.

a seriously compelling mature Yarra Valley Cabernet.

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Yarra Valley, Victoria

RRP $112.50 a bottle

Mature Yarra Valley Cabernet from the Pinnacle of Medhurst

This is exactly the sort of wine that makes aged releases so exciting.

The 2018 Medhurst Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon isn't a young Cabernet that you're going to have to hide away for the next five or ten years.

It already has eight years of development behind it.

And it comes from Medhurst's Reserve range—the wines the estate describes as showcasing the very best of its production, with an emphasis on the highest quality and genuine small-batch winemaking.

Add a 96-point Halliday Wine Companion rating and you have a seriously compelling mature Yarra Valley Cabernet.

At RRP $112.50, this is a wine for Cabernet drinkers who appreciate elegance, complexity and bottle age rather than sheer power.

Tasting Notes

Expect classic cool-climate Cabernet characters of:

• Blackcurrant and cassis
• Blackberry
• Dark cherry
• Plum
• Cedar
• Graphite
• Bay leaf
• Dried herbs
• Subtle florals
• Tobacco
• Earth
• Fine French oak

This isn't massive Cabernet.

The beauty is in the balance between concentrated dark fruit, savoury complexity, fresh acidity and fine-grained tannin.

Current descriptions of the 2018 Reserve highlight blackcurrant, dark cherry, cassis, cedar, graphite and bay leaf, with firm tannins and vibrant acidity providing the structure underneath.

And after eight years from vintage, those youthful black fruits should now be starting to meet the secondary characters that make mature Cabernet so compelling.

Cedar. Tobacco. Earth. Dried herbs.

This is where Cabernet starts getting really interesting.

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

That's serious territory.

Cabernet Sauvignon can be somewhat overshadowed by Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in discussions about the Yarra Valley, but the region has a long history of producing extraordinarily elegant Cabernet.

The key is the style.

This isn't Barossa Cabernet.

It isn't Coonawarra.

And it isn't Margaret River.

Great Yarra Valley Cabernet is typically more medium-bodied, fragrant, savoury and finely structured, with blackcurrant fruit accompanied by herbs, florals, cedar and beautifully shaped tannins.

The 2018 Medhurst Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon fits squarely into that tradition.

Medhurst Reserve – The Best of the Estate

The word Reserve matters here.

Medhurst specifically positions its Reserve wines as the top expression of the estate, describing them as showcasing the best of what Medhurst produces, with a focus on quality and small-batch winemaking.

The Reserve collection includes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, allowing Medhurst to select and elevate the parcels it believes best express the vineyard.

So this isn't simply an older Medhurst Cabernet with a premium label.

It's the estate's flagship expression of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Eight Years from Vintage – This Is the Sweet Spot

This is arguably the biggest reason to buy it.

Cabernet Sauvignon can be unforgivingly youthful.

When young, the fruit can be primary and the tannins firm. Give a serious Cabernet time, however, and everything starts coming together.

At eight years from vintage, the 2018 Medhurst Reserve should be entering a fascinating stage.

The youthful:

Blackcurrant • Blackberry • Plum

starts merging with:

Cedar • Tobacco • Earth • Dried herbs • Forest floor

while the tannins gradually soften and integrate.

Instead of buying a young $100+ Cabernet and waiting years for it to develop, much of that waiting has already been done for you.

Yarra Valley Cabernet – Don't Underestimate It

The Yarra Valley is famous for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

But serious wine lovers know the region can produce exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon.

The combination of a long growing season, cool nights and carefully selected warmer vineyard sites can produce Cabernet with excellent flavour development without sacrificing acidity and perfume.

Medhurst's estate sits on the western side of the Warramate Ranges at Gruyere, surrounded by its estate vineyards.

The estate's Cabernet program is clearly taken seriously: Cabernet Sauvignon sits alongside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Medhurst's flagship Reserve tier.

Food Pairings

This deserves classic Cabernet food:

• Rib-eye steak
• Beef Wellington
• Roast beef
• Filet mignon
• Slow-cooked beef cheek
• Roast lamb
• Venison
• Lamb shoulder
• Wild mushrooms
• Aged cheddar

For me:

A great piece of beef, simply cooked, and a bottle of mature Yarra Cabernet.

You don't need much more than that.

Drinking & Cellaring

This should be entering a beautiful drinking window now.

Drink now–2033+.

If the bottle has been stored well, there's no reason it can't continue developing.

But I wouldn't feel compelled to wait.

At eight years from vintage, this is exactly when I'd start opening bottles and watching how they evolve over the next five years.

I'd stand the bottle upright beforehand and give it 30–60 minutes in a decanter, primarily to let the wine open rather than aggressively aerate it.

Why We Love It

There are several reasons this is a particularly exciting bottle.

You have:

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion
Medhurst's flagship Reserve tier
2018 vintage
Eight years of bottle development
RRP $112.50

But it's the combination that really matters.

Medhurst's Reserve wines represent the estate's highest-quality small-batch production. Now take that quality and give the Cabernet eight years to evolve.

That's where the value is.

You're getting the cassis, blackberry and dark cherry of Cabernet, but you're also beginning to get the reason we cellar great Cabernet in the first place—cedar, tobacco, earth, herbs, softened tannins and mature complexity.

And Cabernet remains one of the great underappreciated strengths of the Yarra Valley.

If you love classic Australian Cabernet from producers such as Mount Mary, Yarra Yering or Wantirna Estate, the 2018 Medhurst Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon deserves your attention.

At RRP $112.50, this is not simply a premium Cabernet.

It's a mature, 96-point Reserve Yarra Valley Cabernet that's ready to drink now—and that's a very compelling proposition.