Print this Wine         1996 Elderton "CSM" (Cab/Shiraz/Merlot)   NURIOOTPA, BAROSSA VALLEY                 January Release   Bordeaux Blends       The acronym stands for Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot. 60%, 30% and 10%. This composition allows for a fruit driven wine to be crafted with immediate drinking enjoyment. Cabernet Sauvignon provides the perfume; Shiraz sweetness of fruit, and Merlot fills and softens the palate. Many producers would love to make a style so attractive for early drinking, but you need to have the fruit in the first place. Typical of the Elderton style the nose sees toasty new oak character that provides a sweet vanilla overtone to the rich and ripe fruit character. The fruit flavors are primarily raspberry and plums. In addition there is some licorice and chocolate characters. This is really a wine you must drink and enjoy, you don’t need to taste and study it too much. The flavors easily roll off the wine in a rewarding and mouth-filling manner. The texture is soft, supple and juicy, with sweet fruit overpowering the oak character on the palate. Given the region and the grape composition you would expect a big blockbuster style of wine, yet this is soft and generous at the finish. It has less tannin and acid but they support the fruit, not cut into it. Drink the wine now as it is so rich and so much fun to drink now, it is hard to see it improving. It certainly will not fall apart; however, so you could put it away for a few years, but can you wait that long. Try the wine with a dish like Tuna, pepper crusted, then seared, and served with a fairly rich red wine reduction sauce. The flesh of Tuna is closer in texture to animals than fish and the wine will match the sauce’s intensity of flavor.         How do I download Hi-Res Labels?

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