Rockford 2002Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon Dec 04

The half bottle of wine was decanted in the restaurant for about thirty minutes prior to tasting it. It stained the decanter. The bouquet was initially closed and very tight but we worked hard to get it to open up and then it showed strong lemon mint, earthy forest floor characters and chocolate. On tasting it, Brian said "this is unlike any other Barossa Cabernet I have ever tasted." There was l streak of lemon mint right though the palate as well as chocolate and blackberry. Full-bodied, the wine certainly has an excellent structure with good length and in many ways that's about all you can see at this early stage; its a baby that needs a big long sleep.

After some time, the lemon dissipated a little and Brian thought it was like a young Dorien but to me, once the lemon reduced, it turned to menthol and was very Clare like in appearance. No matter what way you look at it, this is good wine that is far to early to drink. Rated as pi$$ off and come back in about 2012+.