Sauska Cuvée 5 2012

“Having tasted a number of vintages of Cuvée 5, I am delighted to see a real sense of “place” and possibly even vineyard emerging as each following vintage expresses its personality. For me this is the best vintage yet. It has a very stylish balance of the characteristic “hallmark” intense, ripe dark berry and black cherry fruit, but with clean bright acidity from the excellent Cabernet Franc in the blend, with the big 15% alcohol being in no way intrusive in this wine. This is a “big” wine but I like it better than the earlier prize winning ‘stars’ for its “lift” and brightness, soft round tannins and broad palette of flavours. This is again a wine with very good ageing potential and therefore it is right up there with all the collectable Bordeaux blends.” Christopher Burr MW