Wine Review - 2009 Prince Hill Card Collection Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine was a bit of an impulse purchase at the counter at Cristall & Luckett wine shop.  This was due in part, to the rabbit on the label which caught Shannon's eye. 

Question:  Do wine labels influence your purchasing decision at all?

We would like to think it doesn't but in actuality it does seem that the visuals on a wine bottle do in some ways, intrigue or cause one to keep on browsing.  This, however, is so subjective it is amazing that certain bottles do visually jump out at you.

Back to the wine.  This Cabernet was very similar in style (Aussie style we surmise) to last night's Hickinbotham Shiraz/Cab.  The Cab was very fruit forward and held a lot of residual sugar in the initial part of the taste.  It was very Shiraz-like.  The body and weight of the Cab were there, but the typical dry tannins did not come into play until the very end.  So, it started sweet and finished bone dry.  It was interesting and odd at the same time.

The colour was typical Cab with the Ruby red colour with depth and clarity as part of the overall look of the wine.  Not an amazing colour but it was clear and dark, really that is what we would expect from a Cab (Aussie or not).

The wine being that Aussie style was very fruit forward with heavy sour cherry and blackberry with a hint of oak.  There was more complexity in last night's wine but this one had enough behind it to make it interesting.  Overall, it was good, but non-descript in a lot of way.  Not too bold, a little too much initial sugar, and dry tannins that kind of fell off at the end.

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	Deep Ruby Red wine, non-descript	3.5
Smell (0-5)	Sour cherry and blackberry dominate with a hint of oak	3.5
Taste (0-10)	More cherry and blackberry in the taste but the initial sugar rush and tannic fall off at the end don't really make it overly balanced.	7.0
	Total:	14.0 / 20  (70%)