Killer Cabernet from Coonawarra and Friends 

BY ANGUS HUGHSON | OCTOBER 31, 2023

The history of the Australian wine industry is rich with sliding doors moments. A point in time where seemingly innocuous decisions, 50/50 calls, have gone on to have significant long-term consequences. One of these was how the different states handled the threat of Phylloxera. While some saw the goings on around the world and decided to accept fate like other regions such as Bordeaux, others chose to fight. South Australia enacted a COVID-19-like response and locked out vine material imports until relatively recently. It saved the local wine industry and put down rock-solid foundations that still see the state as the national leader in terms of wine production. It also helped save priceless old vine stock that remains the foundation for many of the finest offerings.

One of the greatest forks in the road for the Australian wine industry was in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Penfolds winemaker Max Schubert had returned from Europe, particularly Bordeaux, having hatched a plan to craft a world-class wine that would compete with the best worldwide. His initial idea was to follow the Bordelais model with Cabernet Sauvignon to create Grange Cabernet Sauvignon. The first known vintage of an experimental icon was a 1948 Barossan Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon, made with fruit from a block planted in 1888. The wine was never released for general sale and has rarely been seen outside company tastings.

Embracing sustainable viticulture in Coonawarra.

After the experimental 1951 Penfolds Grange Shiraz, which was hidden for many years and only emerged from the shadows in 1986, Schubert released both a Grange Cabernet and Shiraz in 1952 and 1953. Clearly, his mind was not yet made up as to the relative merits of the two varieties.

Considering that old vine Cabernet Sauvignon was quite rare at the time, as Coonawarra was yet to establish its credentials completely, Schubert’s experiments show serious faith in Barossa Cabernet, no doubt in part due to the quality of fruit coming out of the Penfolds Kalimna vineyard. The vineyard remains in production to this day and is home to the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world. Over the years, at least partially, it has been the source of some of Australia's greatest wines.

Schubert's decision to go with Shiraz-dominant blends from the 1954 vintage was a seminal moment in the history of Australian wine. Arguably, it was the critical decision that set the country on its current trajectory with the nation’s efforts, fame, reputation and vineyard plantings heavily focused on this variety. A fascinating sideline is that it is likely that Schubert’s choice was not made because of issues with sheer quality as much as supply and reliability. It was more a question of greater vintage variation for Cabernet Sauvignon than for the more reliable and malleable Shiraz.