Nugan Estates Vision Riverina 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - Australia
This wine is a bit hard to review for one simple reason: I know it's a fake.
Lets step back some. I make my own wine. As such and when I started I played around with loads of additives, thinking it made my wines better. They didn't, or they did, or they sometimes did and then stopped- but I tried alot of different things. I still have them around- tools to make wine better, or improve on something, etc.
One of those items is 'tannins'. Tannins can be purchased, say, from Scott Labs, and there are a couple different types. These tannins are not the same ones you find in your typical wine store- no, these are very delicious tannins and priced accordingly. A little goes a very long way.
One of these tannins, the "Grand Cru" etc was a purchase from an online pal, who kindly sold me a kg or so for use. And use I did- I fluffed out all my reds, and some whites, to the point I recognize the taste.
It's that same taste that I realized I was slugging down in this wine. The Nugan Estates 2008 Cab Sauv has the exact same taste as a wine fortified with 'fake' tannins.
Now I suppose you could have two wines with the exact same flavor- and I suppose that Nugan Estates could have the exact grapes being used to make the tannins later sold for flavoring under-ripened harvests. If that's the case, this wine still fails for the simple reason- it has nothing unique in it. The wine tastes 'fake' and forced- too sweet to the mouth.
As advertised on the bottle, it contains "Silky smoothe tannins" - just what you'd expect if you were buying your tannins by the kilo.
The Nugan Estates is priced at 12.99 - an incredibly expensive table wine for it's quality and best left on the shelf.
