J.B. Barry Clarevale Cabernet Malbec 2021

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of J.B. Barry Clarevale Cabernet Malbec 2021.

J.B. Barry Clarevale Cabernet Malbec 2021
$400, 13.3% alcohol, screwcap, Clare Valley.

Welcome to the new-old world of great Australian dry red wine. This wine can be placed in the cellar under the heading Legend of the Future. Indeed if this wasn’t a new release, I’d say of this wine that they don’t make them like this anymore. What I’m trying to say is: this Clare Valley Cabernet Malbec is dry, deep, stern, tannic, long and profound, and it is without any overt sign of oak, or excess of alcohol, and it is in the most uncompromised of ways. It’s a firm, deep, I-don’t-care-about-now wine. It has an elegance too, I dare say, but the way profound fruit is presented fresh, and the way tannin is completely let off the chain, is magnificent. Don’t buy it as a birth year wine for your kids. Buy it as a birth year wine for your grandkids. 97 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, founder of The Winefront and mattinson, and former chief editor of Halliday.

When you pick up a wine book and see thousands of top-scoring wines, it’s hard to know which wine to choose. Mattinson guides you through this maze, giving you an honest view of the best Australian wines, the best wine stories, the best wine producers, the best value wines and simply, the best tasting wines. Importantly, Mattinson will tell you about the top-rated wines and also about the underrated wines. In short, Mattinson knows Australian wines inside and out.

Mattinson has been a photo-journalist since 1987. For the past 25 years he’s been a voice that you can trust when you’re looking for the best wines. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award, and is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter. He’s not afraid to put a score beside a wine. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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