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It seemed to show lots of ripe primary blackcurranty fruit and prominent tannins - but not much else - and felt simplistic yet uncohesive.
Of course, Cab is something of a tough old beast and at two years can still be very youthful, so perhaps it's no surprise that it did not show so well straight out of the bottle as the inherently much softer Merlot and Carménère.
And with a couple of days' airing in the bottle, it started to turn into something more rounded and balanced, hitting a peak around a week later.
The nose is complex, the initial blackcurrant having died down to leave red plum fruit, dark berries, dark pepper and sweet spice aromas of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
On the palate there is ripe cassis and elderberry fruit, sweet dark spices, sweet vanilla, fine tannins and bright, juicy acidity; it feels slightly cooked and warming.
As with the Merlot previously, there is plenty of fruit perfume on the finish and the tannins feel more drying than grippy, a sign that this wine - with its emphasis on ripeness rather than texture - is aimed more at a US market than a European one.
Match with typical Cab food such as plain roast beef or steak to enhance the peppery spiciness of this wine and give it at least a good couple of hours' airing in the decanter to show its best.
Trainspotters may be interested to learn that the wine is actually a blend with 15% Cab Franc.
£11.50 from Waitrose, slurp.co.uk, Wine Rack, Hailsham Cellars, Matthew Clarke, wine-studio.co.uk; provided for review.
Links
Errazuriz - http://www.errazuriz.com/errazuriz/
Waitrose - http://www.waitrosewine.com/
slurp.co.uk - http://www.slurp.co.uk/
Wine Rack - http://www.winerack.co.uk/
Hailsham Cellars - http://www.hailshamcellars.com/
Matthew Clark - http://www.matthewclark.co.uk/
http://www.wine-studio.co.uk/
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