Nick's Article: Giaconda’s Cabernet Swan Song

Giaconda’s Rick Kinzbrunner has reached a magic stage in his acclaimed career as the greatest winemaker in Victoria’s Beechworth wine region. There are others of talent and interest in the area, most of whom I suspect owe a debt of inspiration to Kinzbrunner and his wines.

Chardonnay is the wine that made his name, delivering sturdy structure, majestic richness, bold complex and a showcase of his skill as a winemaker. More recently though his efforts have focused on red wines and the dividends have been healthy.

The charge has been lead by shiraz in a couple of guises, the granitic Beechworth terroir delivering fragrant, ethereal and beguiling wines. He seems to capture an eerily Northern Rhône-like graphite edge. Pinot noir is under reconfiguration, as he has sought to fine-tune the aspects and soils in which it is planted, delving into Yarra Valley material to support interim demand.

Nebbiolo is the most recent addition; it’s a variety that fascinates Kinzbrunner and looks well-suited to Beechworth. The early efforts are convincing and he is very focused on building tannin across all of his red wines, so nebbiolo should be a handy reference in the cellar. 

But cabernet has always been a bit of a thorny one, mostly on the basis of consistency. Kinzbrunner is also on a mission to do fewer things and, from a personal perspective, cabernet belongs to an earlier part of his winemaking journey.

In fact, it was actually the experience of cabernet in California that prompted him to explore and establish the Giaconda project when he returned to Australia in the early 1980s.

Kinzbrunner is a deep thinker and when he sets his sights on something he commits completely. But with the multiple missions of pinot noir, shiraz and nebbiolo all taking up much time and space, he declared that 2012 would be the last vintage of cabernet and, when I interviewed him in 2013, he tipped me off that he felt it was going out on a high.

He’s also somewhat prone to understatement, as this last 2012 vintage cabernet is one of the best reds he has made. It may well be a thing of the past for Giaconda but it will be remembered fondly thanks to this masterfully executed swan song.

Very few would pour so much effort into their last edition of a wine, but then Kinzbrunner is no ordinary man.

Click for the note and score. 

2012 Giaconda Cabernet Sauvignon

Nick Stock is a renowned Australian wine writer, author, presenter and filmmaker who reports on his worldwide wine tasting experiences for JamesSuckling.com.