2021 Dominique Portet Reserve de Famille Cabernet Merlot Malbec
2021 Dominique Portet Reserve de Famille Cabernet Merlot Malbec

2021 Dominique Portet Reserve de Famille Cabernet Merlot Malbec

97 pts
Dominique Portet |Yarra Valley |Cabernet Sauvignon
A refined, estate-grown Cabernet blend from Dominique Portet – elegant, balanced and unmistakably Yarra, with a nod to the family’s Bordeaux roots.
Price:
$90.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Dominique Portet has been working with Cabernet in the Yarra for decades, drawing on his family’s long history in Bordeaux but very much making wines that belong here. The fruit for this blend comes off the family’s Coldstream estate – mostly Cabernet, with Merlot and Malbec adding depth and a touch of roundness.

The grapes spent about three weeks on skins before heading into French oak, roughly a third new, for 14 months. It’s winemaking that favours patience and detail over tricks – just letting the vineyard speak for itself.

The wine sits comfortably in that medium-bodied space the Yarra does so well – blackcurrant, plum and a bit of dried herb, framed by fine tannins and gentle oak. It feels composed and genuine, the sort of red that’s effortless to drink now but will happily rest for a few more years. Top of the charts for Dominique Portet!

97 points
"A superb first release and worth every cent."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

96 points
"A wonderful wine from a great Yarra Valley vintage."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

Aaron Brasher

Aaron Brasher

The Real Review 95 Points

Lifted and complex aromas of blackberry, mulberry, cedar, nutty oak and a brambly leafiness. There's lovely purity and poise on the palate, really classy stuff. Lashings of dark fruits, cedar, creamy oak and a briary lift. The tannins are firm and deliver great shape and structure and the acidity has zip. A serious wine of seamlessness.

Huon Hooke

Huon Hooke

The Real Review 96 Points

Aromas of violets, cassis, dark berries, layered with cedar and wood oil scents. The palate is tight and concentrated, intense and yet elegant, powerful through to its extra-long finish, with very fine, ripe and lovely tannins. Outstanding wine. (65% cabernet sauvignon, 19% merlot, 11% malbec, 5% petit verdot, all estate grown).

Gary Walsh

Gary Walsh

The Wine Front 96 Points

This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The Portet family have a long history of making wine, and in Bordeaux as well, and it’s interesting to me that this wine tastes as much like Bordeaux as it does Yarra Cabernet. Not a thing, but noted.

A mix of black and red fruits, violet perfume, high quality oak here too, hazelnut cream and pencils, a little baking spice and sweet tobacco. It’s medium-bodied, svelte and smooth, with supple fine-grained tannin, offers dense fruit, though it’s all just so, a bit of a graphite thing here, acidity sits so well within the wine, and the finish is long and controlled. A wonderful wine from a great Yarra Valley vintage.

Philip Rich

Philip Rich

Halliday Wine Companion 97 Points

65/19/11/5% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/malbec/petit verdot. Four weeks on skins and matured in barriques and puncheons (35% new). A new flagship cuvée from a family that's always championed Yarra cabernet and blends. A discreet and lovely nose with its scents of cassis, blackberries, mulberries, graphite and violets. Medium bodied and beautifully structured with tannins that are fine grained, precise and seem to go on forever. A superb first release and worth every cent.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type Red
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Cabernet Sauvignon
Country Australia
Region Yarra Valley
Australian State VIC
Reviewed By The Wine Front
Halliday Wine Companion
The Real Review
James Suckling
Critic Score 97
Alcohol 13.5%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2021
Closure Cork

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