Linfield Road, “The Black Hammer” Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

From vines first planted in 1860 in the Southern Barossa Valley, the Linfield Road wines certainly have maturity of vines on their side!

The 2006 “The Black Hammer” Cabernet Sauvignon ($18-22 a bottle) is slightly dirty in the glass but has a herbaceous, cedary nose that invites immediate imbibement.
At first, the rich fruit titillates the taste buds, but the fruitcake flavours are immediately overwhelmed by a flood of hard leathery tannins that dominate the middle and suck your cheeks through your nostrils as the wine passes through the back palate.

It’s a little hot at 15.3% but with such firm tannins, it will certainly benefit from a few years laying on its side.