The De Bortoli Yarra Valley estate wines hold a special place for me. As I was working in pubs and bottle shops, the 1995 Cabernet Franc was one of the “classy” wines we kept in 6 packs in the cellar.

I managed to get one at staff rates and I remember sitting on the floor in my bedroom of the share house, with my low futon (remember those!??) serving as both bed and back rest. The tannins were dustier than the residence and it truly was one of the wines that put me on this path. Sadly, Leanne De Bortoli has told me that they no longer have the Cabernet Franc vines at their Yarra Valley Estate.

I keep an eye out every now and then for such nostalgia wines as those: especially at auction sites, on extensive wine lists or buried in the shelves of a backwater bottle-o. Often they still bear the original price tag. They weren’t expensive by today’s pricing, but anything of $20 in those days was certainly held in high regard. The Australian wine industry still bears mental, emotional and physical scars about the corks from that era (yet another reason we’ve so strongly embraced alternate closures), so it is always with trepidation and held breath when the cork is pulled on these 25ish year old bottles.

So when I spotted a 1992 De Bortoli Melba Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz on a wine auction site and with an impressive level, I put my bid in and was rewarded: both in hip pocket and on the palate. Nostalgia tastes good.

De Bortoli Melba Vineyard, Cabernet/Shiraz, Yarra Valley, 1992

Thank the Cork Gods, this one has held firm. Initially coloured deep black and full of secondary aromas, beef stock and soy, as the juice gulped its first air in 23 years. They started to blow off to reveal blackberry and blood plum skins. A good lift of eucalypt/herbaceous Cabernet, battling the mature, animalistic ‘shearing shed’ (unmistakeable aroma: indestructible Australian hardwood, worn smooth from long oiling of the lanolin). May as well have been singing “Hey True Blue,” this could very well be ‘Eau d’Aussie.’

Still elegant and medium bodied: cassis and bramble. Plummy shiraz making an appearance before fine tannins proudly declare “She’s Alive!” A great mature example of the quintessential Australian blend.

RRP: ??

Alc: 12.5%

Own purchase from a wine auction website