Today, I have an incredibly popular wine with one of the most instantly recognizable labels. It’s the Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is a wine I see in almost every country I visit and almost every supermarket.
This is one of the cheapest wines you’ll find with a bottle costing 7 or 8 dollars. But is it possible to get good wine at this price?
Actually, my last review of the Kirkland Prosecco gives me hope. It cost $8 and was a pleasant surprise. So I go into this wine tasting and review with renewed optimism!
Wine Specs
Winemaking details are non-existent for this wine. To be honest I think that’s probably a good move on their part.
To produce such cheap and affordable wine on such a large scale must mean cutting some corners and keeping production costs extremely low. So yeah best not make that public!
What that means though is that I know very little about how this wine is made. I basically know it’s vegan, it’s from South Eastern Australia, and it’s from 2021.
Appearance
It’s a deep ruby color and there’s more opacity there than your average cab. After a swirl, the tears move relatively quickly down the side of the glass. Just judging by eye, it seems to be a bit lighter in body than you’d expect.
Nose
Jammy blackcurrant and blackberry are front and center. There’s a little oak and vanilla there too. It smells quite sweet and I’m immediately concerned.
Tasting
That juicy, jammy fruit comes through on the palate, with a little bit of spicy oak on the end. It’s all a bit too sweet and there’s a lack of acidity to counter the sugar.
There are a couple of things that are really off with this wine. The first is the lack of tannin and acidity. The tannins are very gentle for Cabernet Sauvignon. The other is the lack of body. It seemed to lack a bit of body when I looked at it in the glass and this is apparent on drinking. It feels thin and unsubstantial in the mouth.
These are core Cabernet Sauvignon varietal characteristics that it lacks. The lack of body is especially strange when you consider it has more residual sugar than your average Cab. That sugar should contribute to the body of the wine. It just doesn’t add up.
There’s a real lack of structure to this wine that makes it a bit too sickly sweet for me. I only have a miniature bottle for this review and even that is too much for me to finish.
Score
Let me start by saying, this is one of the most popular wines in the world. Millions of people buy Yellow Tail wines and obviously enjoy them.
So, there’s a market for low acid, low tannin, fruity, sweet reds.
However, if you know and respect Cabernet Sauvignon this will fall very, very flat.
It lacks key varietal characteristics and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were drinking a blend.
The lack of body and structure (by way of tannin and acidity) make sure it feels very soft in the mouth. But, personally, that’s not what I want from my Cabernet Sauvignon.
I’m going to score the 2021 Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon score 5.5/10.
It’s not a wine I recommend and there are much better wines to be had for just a few bucks more around $10.
The Apothic Cab for instance costs $10 and is also fruity and approachable but in a much more interesting way.
There’s also the Woodbridge Cab that costs around $7 which is a more enjoyable representation of the grape.
Have you tried this wine? What would you score it? Let me know down in the comments section!