Those very nice people at Majestic Wine sent me a voucher for money off my next purchase. It had been a while since I had visited Majestic and this was an offer I couldn’t resist. I bought eight bottles of wine in total. I like majestic as they generally have better quality wines than I can get on my supermarket ventures, but of course you generally get what you pay for with wine so they also tend to be more expensive, and I can resist anything but temptation; Majestic tempts me to spend more than I should.
I was excited by what I saw and I was particularly excited at the chance to buy a Vasse Felix wine. I have often encountered the brand in wine books and magazines and was curious to see if the wine lived up to my expectations. I have always enjoyed the wines that I have had from Western Australia; they seem distinctly different from the usual fayre from South-East and South Australia – quite full and fruity, so I was expecting a treat.
The wine that I chose was their “Filius” Cabernet Merlot blend – they also do a Chardonnay in the same range and price.
Vintage 2013.
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot Blend.
Region: Margaret River, Western Australia.
Producer: Vasse Felix.
Alcohol %: 14.5
Colour: Dark purple/Red
Bouquet/Smell: Smokey (Oak), Black fruits – Blackcurrants and plums.
Taste/Palate: Rounded Blackcurrants, smokey with a hint of herbs.
Majestic say: “Perfumed and leafy aromas along with generous black fruits and berry fruit aromas. A palate rounded by oak, integrated and ripe tannins and warming layers of dark fruits. An integrated complex finish.”
Finish: Long, smooth and complex.
Majestic suggest that it is suited to Beef, Lamb and cured meats, I would suggest that it would cope with strong flavoured cheese too.
It is a great wine to enjoy now but Majestic suggest that it could be enjoyed consistently over the next 8-10 years and it does appear to have enough structure to support their claim.
At £15.99 (or even at the paid £11.99 because I bought six + mixed case) it is more than I would normally pay for a wine but the extra expense was well worth it. In this case the extra money buys you complexity, structure and depth that you just don’t get with less expensive wines. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine – I really ought to get a job that pays better! I enjoyed the rich fruits, the intricate blend of flavours and long finish. The 14.5% alcohol wasn’t noticeable to me – with some high alcohol wines, you really notice the alcohol, but with the rich flavours the alcohol added rather than detracted from the overall effect.
Christelle Guibert from Decanter Magazine wrote (May Issue):
“An elegant, textbook Bordeaux blend from a leading Margaret River producer. There’s a minty, dried-herb edge to the ripe blackcurrant fruit that is beautifully balanced by subtle oak, fresh acidity and super-fine tannins.”
Majestic “Filius” link
This wine could probably be regarded as Vasse Felix budget wine in the shadow of their Heytesbury “The Red” signature red wine at £60.00 (Majestic) but it is still an incredibly good quality wine and if what you are looking for is deep, structured and complex, then I can thoroughly recommend it.
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