2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Kronos

Spring started warm and dry until record rain then delayed bloom and fruit set. Summer remained cool with steady, dry weather allowing for slow, even ripening. Temperatures then warmed just enough to allow the completion of ripening without rushing harvest. The extended growing season led to wines with good structure and layered flavours through the region. Impressively dense colour concentration with a black core of colour only becoming ruby through the edges. Star bright in the glass. Cool, steely aromatics here with notes of gunpowder. Lovely density of flavour through the palate – impressive density of flavour without presenting as overly compressed – the flavours are still available and there is room in the mouth to explore them. There is more of a focus on mid-palate presence here while the finish remains impressively long. Notes of gunpowder, hints of dark chocolate, mixed fresh fruits of blackcurrant, black cherry and a long earthy finish. This wine will age an impressively long time and is still quite young actually. It is certainly drinkable (with pleasure) now but will benefit from braised meats to help open the tannin, which is fine-grained while still firm. Even so, the acidity here is mouth-watering making the wine worth drinking now though it will certainly gain in the depth, complexity and nuance Kronos is known for with age. (ECB)