In the age of cut price internet and big box wine businesses, does anyone believe an advertised “recommended retail price (rrp)?” When does a wine provide value? Are pedigree,  history and prestige allowed to enter the arena? Or does all that get brushed aside when people smell  bargain by their “hidden label” no longer  selling for $100 but only $40? Katnook Odyssey weighs in at three figures. That’s a lot of shekels in most wine parlance but where does value lie? 2012 was an immense year, one of the better vintages since the turn of the Millennium.  With a fair bit of the ageing complete upon the commercial release and being sold under cork (not DIAM) Katnook have set sail their flagship not only with a cellaring potential of 20 years, but also ready for immediate drinking.

Katnook Estate, Odyssey, Coonawarra, 2012

24 months in mostly french oak (35% new) means it still carries a sweet wooden youthful complexion, but this simply overlays almost endless depths of blackcurrant fruit, damp tobacco and dark raspberry. Well executed fine tannins are an elegant suffix to judicious, slinky fruit (that could so easily have been over ripened and made to appear hot and lifeless under the oak veneer) with a bittersweet herbal Chinotto finish. With not a hair out of place and very unlikely to shift for a few years yet, this can wear the price tag without fear of ridicule. Now that is value.

RRP: $100
Alc: 14.5%

Wine sample courtesy of Katnook Estate