Geoff Merrill Pimpala Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
- Rich, full-bodied
- South Australia
Not to be confused with Geoff Merrill’s ‘Pimpala Road’ range, these Pimpala Vineyard wines are careful barrel selections from his reserve range. This has spent no less than 20 months in French and American oak barrels, plus over three years in the cellar to let all its powerful fruit and decadent oak flavour all meld together. It’s roughly a 2:1 Coonawarra:McLaren Vale blend - Coonawarra class, with ramped up richness from the Vale’s contribution. It’s like liquid black chocolate cake, with the Vale’s dark chocolate and heady spice flavours oozing head-on into dark cherry, blackcurrant leaf and roasted coconut. It’s on the fuller side of medium-bodied, with classic cabernet scaffolding fleshed out and as smooth as can be.
Profile
It’s cool, we get it, you want to know absolutely everything about this wine. Well here you go, go nuts.
Specs
- Region
- South Australia
- Vintage
- 2013
- Cellaring
- 2026
- Preservatives
- Sulphites
- Alcohol by Vol.
- 14.5%
- Closure
- Screwcap
- Bottle Vol
- 750mL
- Blend Info
- 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (63% Coonawarra, 37% McLaren Vale)
- Serving Temp.
- 17.0°C
Region
South Australia
Adelaide as a wine region includes Barossa, Fleurieu and the Adelaide Hills. The wines that use this as their region tend to be very interesting, as they'll inevitably use some cooler, stylish fruit from the Hills, bolstered with richer fruit sourced from one of the other two regions. Grange is a multi-regional blend, after all.
The rules are there ain’t no rules, but here are some foods we think will work pretty well with this wine...
Goes with
Spaghetti bolognese
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 6 rashers higher-welfare dry-cured smoked streaky bacon , sliced 1cm thick
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary , leaves picked and finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic , peeled and finely sliced
- 1 onion , peeled and finely chopped
- 500 g quality British beef mince
- 200 ml red wine
- 1 x 280 g jar of sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes
- 500 g dried spaghetti
- Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Put a casserole pan on a medium heat, add a splash of olive oil then cook the bacon, rosemary, garlic and onion for about 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft. Add the mince and break apart any lumps with a wooden spoon. Let it cook for a couple of minutes until starting to brown then pour in the red wine.
- Let that bubble away while you drain and blitz the sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor. Add them to the mince with the tinned tomatoes. Stir well and break the plum tomatoes apart a little. Cover with a lid then cook in the hot oven for 1 hour. Remove the lid after 30 minutes, and if it looks a little dry, add a splash of water to help it along.
- About 10 minutes before the time is up, cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water, then return the spaghetti to the hot pan with a few spoons of Bolognese, a good grating of Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Mix it about to coat the spaghetti and to stop it becoming claggy, loosening with a splash of cooking water if needed. Divide the spaghetti between your plates or bowls, add a good spoonful of Bolognese to each one then shave over a little Parmesan before serving.