Tasting Notes
Colour: Deep red
Aroma: This is blessed with an incredibly intense, powerful nose, which and after a few hours in a decanter unveils the sweetest of mineral soaked fruits (blackberries, boysenberries, mulberry and a compote edge to the blueberry). There’s an exotic sweetness to the aromatic spices which flow with star anise and candied violets. Graphite in profusion along with black olive tapenade, salinity and wafts of camphor and liquorice.
Palate: The palate is equally intense and powerful, and yet there is a sense of wonderful definition and heavenly focus that marks it out differently from many young Aussie Cabernets. This is the creamiest, richest and certainly the most voluminous wine in the 2019 Utopos collection which unfolds with layer upon layer of the most luxurious silky fruits. Wonderfully structured too. The tannins are velvety, and there’s freshness which adds brightness to the mouthfeel. A little minerality on the epically long finish. This cannot fail to impress and will comfortably cellar for 15-20 years. Simply magnificent.
Grape Varieties: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Shiraz
Aging: Approximately 40% new French oak (barriques) for around 2 years. Balance being 2nd and 3rd fill French oak.
Awards: 93pts – James Suckling; 98pts – The Vinorium UK; 91pts- The Real Review
History of Utopos
Utopos (pronounced ewe-toe-pos) is a partnership between Kym Teusner of Teusner Wines and an old friend who has a somewhat romantic and unobtainable view of the wine world. Together, they purchased a superb Barossa vineyard; known for producing a small harvest of fruit that has long been desired by other producers for their top-end wines.
The Utopos vineyard is located on Roennfeldt Road, straddling one of the highest points on the boundary between Greenock and Marananga, perched on the Northern end of the Ironstone Ridge that lays claim to “some of the Barossa’s most prized and famous terroir,” says Kym.
Right next door is the source of winemaker Kym Teusner’s own Righteous Shiraz along with Torbreck’s Laird, Two Hands, Greenock Creek and the list goes on. At 315m it sits among the most elevated sites on the ‘valley floor’ and being on the end of the ridge there are three distinct aspects to the block – East planted predominantly to Shiraz, North to Cabernet Sauvignon and West to Grenache and Mataro. “It doesn’t come any sweeter than this” says Kym…
‘Utopos’ is a Greek word derived from ‘Utopia’, meaning a good and perfect place. Kym’s mate dreams of the wine world as idyllic, but in reality it’s hard work. However, both he and Kym believe they have found the perfect place; hence named their vineyard ‘Utopos’.
