Putting it all together – Withington Shiraz Cabernet 2005

I was very fortunate last week to have a visit from John Avery MW (Master of Wine), one of the most senior of the UK Masters of Wine, and also head panellist on the South African Airways annual wine tasting. John is held in extremely high regard worldwide for his encyclopaedic knowledge of wine, and is also highly liked for his enthusiastic approach and irrepressible sense of humour. The family wine business, Avery’s of Bristol, has been around for some seven generations, and Avery’s is truly a landmark of the Bristol landscape. 

Avery’s is also very important to myself, as they are the biggest distributor of Withington Wines in the United Kingdom through an exceedingly efficient mail order system that they run from their winery, and also in conjunction with great newspapers like The Daily Telegraph. 

John’s visit could not have been timed better, because I was in the process of putting together the final components of the Shiraz Cabernet blend for the Withington Shiraz Cabernet 2005. The 2004 vintage had been exceedingly well received, which delighted us all but equally so, made it a very tough act to follow. We went backwards and forwards with this blend – from 60% Shiraz and 40% Cabernet, it provided a delicious wine, but also with a slight austerity and almost ‘greenishness’ from the Cabernet side. Laid down, it would have been a lovely wine in five years’ time, but alas, the market does not allow us such luxuries at those price points. On the other hand, the 70% Shiraz and 30% Cabernet blend was almost too “drinkable” and needed a bit more backbone. In the end, having tasted all sorts of minute variations, the final blend will be 65% Shiraz and 35% Cabernet.  

This wine is due to be bottled in the next fortnight and will be available about three weeks after that.