Three UMAMU Estate Cabernets Named Among Australia’s Best Aged Cabernets

UMAMU Estate is delighted to share that three of our wines have been selected in Young Gun of Wine’s national Deep Dive into Australia’s Best Aged Cabernets, with every wine tasted blind. Our 2018 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was chosen independently by two separate panellists, each placing it among their personal top six without knowing whose wine was in the glass.

Young Gun of Wine is one of Australia’s most respected independent wine publications, and its Deep Dive series brings together expert panels to taste blind and find the wines that compel the most.

For Australia’s Best Aged Cabernets, published on 17 September 2026, the panel tasted museum-release Cabernets and Bordeaux-style blends still available to buy direct from the winery. The wines were served blind at the Bleakhouse Hotel in Albert Park, Melbourne, with each panellist simply naming their personal top six.

The seven panellists were Sue Hodder (senior winemaker, Wynns Coonawarra Estate), Eden Walpole (senior winemaker, Blue Pyrenees Estate), Emma Raidis (vigneron, Raïdis Estate), Patrick Wood (winemaker, Harbinger and Kyneton Ridge), Rhiannon Lahatte (brand ambassador, Voyager Estate), Evan Heisz (wine consultant, MW Wines) and Terina Davies (wine merchant, Seddon Wine Store and Union Wine Store).

In July, our 2018 and 2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignons were both selected in a regional field, as we shared in our post on Young Gun of Wine’s Margaret River Deep Dive, which asked which wines best express Margaret River Cabernet. This time the question was national: aged museum releases from right across Australia, tasted side by side against a very different lineup.

Three UMAMU Estate wines made the panel’s selections:

• 2018 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – selected by Emma Raidis and Evan Heisz

• 2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – selected by Emma Raidis

• 2019 Estate “MacAnn” Cabernets – selected by Terina Davies

2018 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – Plush, Minty and Beautifully Balanced

Two panellists, tasting blind and entirely independently of one another, each chose our 2018 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon for their top six. Emma Raidis, vigneron at Raïdis Estate, was won over by its generous, plush fruit:

“Deep red in the glass and unapologetically plush, with blackcurrant, red cherry, mint, dark chocolate and a lick of eucalypt. The palate delivers exactly what the nose promises – juicy blackcurrant, cooling mint and rich chocolate, all wrapped up in generous, delicious fruit. Not one for overthinking.”

– Emma Raidis, vigneron, Raïdis Estate

Evan Heisz, wine consultant at MW Wines, found a quieter elegance beneath all that generosity:

“A bit more delicate than others in this lineup – it doesn’t scream or shout, but talks a big game all the same. That classic Aussie mint and eucalyptus pushes out of the glass and onto the palate, mingling with the blackberries and blackcurrants. So much velvety rounded texture and balance as a whole. There is so much pleasure in the drinkability here – the balance never wavers, and before you know it you’re back at the glass again. A lovely wine.”

– Evan Heisz, wine consultant, MW Wines

You can purchase the 2018 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon here.

2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – Cigar Box, Forest Floor and Still Beautifully Alive

Emma Raidis also selected our 2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, which means two of her six choices from the entire blind lineup were UMAMU wines. More than a decade on from vintage, the 2013 rewarded her with layer upon layer of savoury, graceful detail:

“Blackcurrant and black cherry lead the charge, before cigar box, tobacco leaf, worn leather, graphite and pencil shavings join the party,” she declared. “There’s forest floor, bay leaf, mint, dark chocolate and a good shake of savoury spice, too. Complex, delicious and still beautifully alive, with silky tannins, bright acidity and a long, confident finish. Plenty going on, but nothing fighting for attention. Would have been absolutely cracking with the minute steak I just demolished at the Bleakhouse Hotel – which I thoroughly recommend for a good feed!”

– Emma Raidis, vigneron, Raïdis Estate

The 2013 is available as part of our three-bottle Cabernet Sauvignon vertical tasting pack, alongside our 2019 Ann’s Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2018 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, a lovely way to taste how our Cabernet grows and softens with time in bottle. You can purchase the 2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon as part of the Cabernet Sauvignon vertical tasting pack here.

2019 Estate “MacAnn” Cabernets – Savoury Layers, Cassis and Compelling Complexity

Terina Davies, wine merchant at Seddon Wine Store and Union Wine Store, selected our 2019 Estate “MacAnn” Cabernets for her top six. The youngest of our three wines in the tasting, this Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc revealed a wonderfully savoury, layered character in her glass:

“Red plum, dehydrated tomato dust, tomato leaf, dried sage, blackcurrants and blackcurrant leaf on the nose, alongside a buttered almond tone reminiscent of friands or marzipan, and a Campari-like touch of Italian aperitivo bitters. The palate is weighted and slippery in texture, with lithe tannins. Cassis fruit is balanced with a waft of roasted game, oxtail stew, and pan-roasted brown mushrooms. Complex and compelling stuff!”

– Terina Davies, wine merchant, Seddon Wine Store and Union Wine Store

This wine is inspired by my 101yo Aunty May's Chateau Pichon Lalande way back when.  You can purchase the 2019 Estate “MacAnn” Cabernets here.

Patience, Proven in the Glass

Each of these wines has had years to grow gently into itself, and it is a particular joy for all of us to see them chosen blind in a national field of aged Cabernets. As Charmaine puts it:

“To have three of our wines chosen blind, in a national field of aged Cabernets, is a quiet and wonderful affirmation of how we have always worked at UMAMU Estate. We handle the fruit gently, we look for balance and elegance, and then we give the wines time, letting the vineyard and the years do their charm. It is one thing to say a wine will age gracefully. To have expert palates find that grace in the glass, with no labels to guide them, tells us the patience has been worth it.”

– Charmaine, Principal of UMAMU Estate