With so much brilliant vino for under 30 bucks Australia truly is the lucky country, and (with a not unimpressive 96er from Halliday) the Johns Blend Margaretes is by far one of my favourites. And after no 2011 due to terrible conditions, I'm mighty glad to have it back. With consistently high praise from anyone who’s cracked a bottle it’s won fans from right across the board for its depth of flavour, aroma, and precise but complex structure. The nose is powerfully fruity with a nice chocolaty backbone, traces of dried mint and spice also present with a thread of vanillin oak. The body sits somewhere between medium and full, with a well assembled fruit profile underpinned by oak and super fine tannins, assuring a good development with age (if you can bring yourself to wait).
Campbell Mattinson, Australian Wine Companion: 96 The concentration of black berried fruit here is phenomenal. It's graded with grainy, coffeed, earthen tannin too. There's oak but it's integrated; the wine is saturated with flavour but it remains keen and fresh. A long future awaits, cork permitting.
ABOUT THE WINERY: A constant persuit of excellence in every aspect of production is the key to the success of John and Margarete Glaetzer's family business, which produces John's Blend. John and Margarete have seen their vision come to fruition when the 1974 John's Blend was first released in 1977. This classic Australian red wine continues the award winning success story of John Glaetzer, over many years of wine making for some of Australia's top wine producers. Over 30 years experience of fine wine making has established John Glaetzer to hand craft these uniques reds. Small batches of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from the alluvial soils of Langhorne Creek and Shiraz from Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale are crushed, fermented, pressed and blended into oak hogsheads for maturation. These small batches of grapes become John's Blend, a select, super premium label with limited production. In 1995 a rich and intense Margarete's Shiraz was added to the label, a perfect companion to the Cabernet Sauvignon - both wines offer a unique experience to red wine connoiseurs all over the world.
Don't Pay: $38.00
WBW Rating: 96/100
Closure: Cork
Region: Langhorne Creek, SA
Winemaker: John Glaetzer
Drink now until: 2028
Alc/Vol: 14.5 %
