The pro race calendar typically gets kicked off with several stage races in Australia that follow the Australian national championships. These early season races are often dominated by the Australians in the pro peleton since this is the only time they really get to race in front of their home country. Also, most of the road cyclists are just coming off their off-season and are only beginning to think about building their form for the upcoming year.
The Tour Down Under and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour wrapped up a solid three weeks of January racing in Australia. It came as no surprise that these races featured top results from Ritchie Porte, Daryl Impey and a surprise challenger from Canada, Michael Woods. Porte is Australian. Impey is the defending Tour Down Under Champion. Both do well on the semi-hilly terrain that the Australian races have to offer. Impey is the first rider to win back-to-back editions of the Tour Down Under. Undoubtedly, this made his Australian based team, Mitchelton-Scott, very happy.
This week’s Lucha Vino challenge features a Washington Cabernet Sauvignon taking on a challenger from the McLaren Valle in Australia.
2015 Cooper Estate Cabernet Sauvignon vs. 2013 Davey Family D-Block Cabernet Sauvignon
Tale of the Tape
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Cooper Estate vineyard on Red Mountain.
Aged in 100% French Oak barrels
Provided by the winery as a sample. Available at retail for $95.
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Davey Family Vineyard in the McClaren Vale
Aged for 14 months in 90% French Oak and 10% Central European oak hogsheads
Purchased from Total WInes for $49.99.
Round 1. First opening
Cooper charges into the ring with a nose showing dark fruit, coffee bean and savory earthy notes. The palate features dark cherry, cola, cocoa and a fine cocoa powder tannin finish.
The Davey Family luchador attempts to bring la familia into the ring and is denied by the ref. The nose is ripe with blueberry notes and the palate follows with similar character.
The Cooper luchador takes round one with a diverse attack over the one dimensional Australian challenger.
Round 2. One hour after opening
Cooper continues to be the aggressor with a nose featuring black cherry, coffee and cocoa. The palate doubles down on the black cherry, coffee and cocoa notes and throws in some white pepper for good measure.
Davey is stumbling around the ring searching for answers. The nose continues to show blueberry fruit with the palate doing the same with a slight hint of white pepper.
Cooper takes another round over the Australian luchador which looks to be over-matched.
Round 3. One day after opening
The Cooper Red Mountain luchador is putting the finishing touches on this match by wrapping up the Australian in a wicked head lock.
Cooper is showing stamina with a nose that continues to show black cherry, coffee and cocoa notes. The palate follows suit with the addition of white pepper and a fine grained cocoa powder tannin finish.
Davey is tapping out with a nose heavy on fruit character with blue berry and plumb notes. The palate is similar with a slightly dry tannin finish.
That's it. Cooper wins the match by TKO.
Wrap up and overall observations
The Cooper Estate Cabernet Sauvignon showed off some serious Red Mountain AVA style. This wine has many more good years ahead of it.
The Davey Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon never got started. It is hard to say why this wine remained so one dimensional across the entire match.
I highly recommend the Cooper Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Any wine cellar will benefit from having this Washington Wine Luchador join their squad.
Thank You for The fun write up. We love to show what Red Mountain estate fruit can do. We are just getting started, so excited to see what the mtn will be accomplishing in another 20 years. We look forward to seeing you soon. •coop
ReplyDeleteCooper Wine Company.