The East Hill Bottle Shop 14 December 2022

One of the best parts of the holiday season are the premium wine selections that have began to make their appearances at our local tastings. A great example was tonight’s Crowd Favorite: Max’s 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon by Penfolds, from Southern Australia. Sometimes reading the back of the bottle gives you some idea of what you might be getting into. Max’s is a good example: “fruit intensity, ripe tannins, and generosity of flavor,” So did you get those things when you tasted? What do ripe tannins taste like? Reading the back of wine bottles is an eventful pastime akin to reading the show notes of the old mid-90s daytime soap operas that my mom used to watch. Max’s is a strong Cab, with tannins that are not quite balanced, but not over done (I guess that means ripe), with a mouth full of ripe red fruit that finishes with a hint of throat bite. Overall very good! All of this comes from the unique soil in Southern Australia. The tasters all enjoyed it. Sadly, sometimes you do have to pay more to get more.