Withington Wines, Darling

My father recently read about a Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Blend from Withington Wines, a wine estate in the Darling region. He asked me to please taste the wine as he was interested in purchasing some. I contacted Withington Wines to find out where the wine was sold locally but they don’t have a sales outlet anywhere near to us. So, as I had to order 12 wines to get them delivered to me, I decided to hold an informal wine tasting. I chose 3 red wines to taste – the Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, the Carignan, and a Pinotage. The wines were paid for and delivered and the guests were invited. I decided that an informal group made up of Norman McFarlane, his wife Eppie, Erica Liebenberg and Dave and I would be a good mix. As we were doing the wine tasting after lunch I only did cheese platter and meat platters to accompany our tasting. On the Saturday morning  of the tasting, Dave worked on the house while I got things ready and about 2 hours before our guests were due I opened the box. The first bottle of wine that I took out was cold – and the label was wet, and it turned out that instead of the Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz blend, I had been sent some Chardonnay, which must have been put into the box chilled. I called and spoke to Charles Withington who was devastated for me! His wife drove from Darling to meet Dave at the airport – an hour’s drive each way for both of them. She swapped the 4 incorrect wines for a case of the Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, and Dave got home with minutes to spare before the guests arrived.

Withington Wines
Withington Wines

I planned a blind tasting and placed the wines in the following order – Pinotage, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, and invited my guests to give open opinions about the wine, before I shared with them what they tasted. After I told them which wine was which, we moved on to assessing the wines with the food. Here are some of our tasting notes and thoughts:

Pinotage

  • bright and earthy red colour
  • tobacco nose
  • black fruit
  • grassy
  • cedar note with some vanilla spice
  • red berries and cherries
  • starts well
  • smooth
  • sweetish
  • gentle acidity with soft tannins
  • sharp
  • fresh
  • dry aftertaste
  • easy drinking
  • we all judges this 3rd

Carignan

  • berries and plums
  • some red fruits
  • black fruit
  • umami
  • polished leather
  • savoury
  • dry
  • subtle
  • smooth
  • full mid palate
  • edgy tannins
  • pleasing end
  • persistent finish
  • fruity finish
  • majority voted this 1st

Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz

  • dark plummy red in colour
  • red berry on nose
  • plenty ripe fruit
  • opulent black fruit nose
  • polished leather
  • vanilla
  • some spice
  • lingers on the palate
  • complex
  • smooth
  • good table wine
  • high alcohol
  • well balanced
  • nice longevity
  • majority voted this 2nd

The end result of our tasting is that my Dad ordered 20 cases of the  Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Blend wine!

Disclosure: I was given wine at no charge. I have not been compensated for this post and neither was I asked to write a positive review.  This is in line with my blogging policy.
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25 thoughts on “Withington Wines, Darling

  1. I really love Pinotage — it is such a unique wine and one that it only made in South Africa I believe. Your review of the Withington sounds lovely. Great idea to have a wine tasting with munchies with friends!

  2. what a beautiful wine tasting night! You are always very careful to organize perfect tables for your guests…the wine notes are very interesting.

  3. This was a lovely tasting, thoroughly enjoyed by all involved! Thanks Tandy for setting it all up and well done for blogging with your characteristic quality!

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