“Is Coonawarra sexy?” I ask Orlando’s head winemaker Tim Pelquest-Hunt during our virtual tasting session of the Orlando Legends wines. “I think so, don’t you?” he was quick to reply.

It’s one of those regions that is vital to so many of Australia’s great red wines: Yalumba’s The Caley, Penfold’s Bin 707 and let’s not forget Wynn’s Black Label and John Riddoch Cabernets. Which brings us to Jacaranda Ridge. A label that has been around for many years with many rusted on followers: indeed, I remember coveting a 1996 bottle of it that was under lock and key in the pub that I worked at. While the label and region (and even grape) may not be the first picked for a funky wine list, there’s incredibly tasty and well made juice inside the bottle, and that is sexy enough for me.

Note, the bottle image below shows 2015, but naught has changed other than the vintage year.

Orlando, Jacaranda Ridge, Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, 2018

Regionality writ large: Luscious black fruits of blackberry and cassis with a tweak of choc mint, perfectly judged creamy, cedary oak with violets, rose petal folds and wooden pencil. Structured and classic: full bodied with attractive, silken fruit and fine, tightly grained elegant tannins. The Orlando team are looking to make a wine with “poise, grace and core strength,” and they’ve nailed the brief well for this release. Drink now to 20 years.

RRP: $50
Alc: 14.5%
Rating: 18.5/20 (94/100)

Wine sample courtesy of Orlando Wines and Liquid Ideas