100% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Good vibrant medium red colour with purple. Ripe blackcurrant and mulberry nose. Rich and ripe varietal characters highlighted by blackcurrant and black olive tones. The fruit is supported by well integrated cedary oak. The strong palate has attractive palate length and acidity.

We’ve raved about the Zema 2005 Shiraz; the Cabernet is even better. There is distinctive Coonawarra texture and attractive aromatics. It is hard to resist now but will reward with a couple of years cellaring. The Sydney Morning Herald; Greg Duncan Powell

The Zema wines are easily capable of maturing for more than a decade but they are also very drinkable as young wines, you just don't get the benefit of time. This 2005 shows classic regional flavours. Deep garnet red with cassis and hints of vanillin oak aromas, the palate is rich, ripe and mouth filling. Typically dry dusty tannins finish things off perfectly. 5 Stars * * * * * Fergus McGhie; The Canberra Times

It feels a bit warm and alcoholic but otherwise an excellent red wine. It’s got a lovely structure and lovely fruit weight, its flavours of chocolate and cassis reaching to all corners of the mouth – always a good sign. I love drinking this. It’s beautiful, medium-weight Coonawarra Cabernet worthy of a place both at the dinner table and in the cellar. Drink 2011-2016. 93 points. Campbell Mattinson; The Wine Front

No question here of the origins of this wine, with mints and ripe red fruits showing how well they can work together. This wine broads for a while on opening, then gets going in the glass as its layers unfold, making for a complex drink worth proper contemplation. It's well crafted, full of quality elements, warm-hearted and really good to drink. 93 Points; Tony Love, The Adelaide Advertiser Top 100

Coonawarra’s Zema Estate produces some of the region’s most flavour packed Cabernets, with the 2005 release holding true to form. Lots of squishy, sexy, blackcurrant flavours here, with a tight, fine tannin structure adding aging potential. It’s a beauty. 92 points; Grant Dodd; The Wining Pro

I tasted this wine before last week’s State or Origin and it was just as sweet as the Blues’ win. It’s a super cabernet from Coonawarra, powerful, elegant with upfront blackberry and cassis fruit, chocolate and minty characters, nicely balanced oak and juicy tannins. Drink it with roast lamb. Kerry Skinner; Illawarra Mercury

A fuller style packed with blackberry, black raspberry, chocolate, a touch of mint and capsicum and some nutty Play-Doh oak –liquorice richness merging with extended breathing. On the palate full bodied with fine grained tannins and good intensity – although, at least as a young wine, it feels a bit gawky. The flavours are of cassis, chocolate and raisins but also some capsicum and dried herbs and it finishes dryly with decent length. It needs some bottle age to smooth things over, but overall looks to be a solid offering from Zema, and although not a top vintage, it’s still a fine value pick for the cellar – as per usual Rated: 91 points; Gary Walsh; The Wine Front

A slightly herbaceous nose with rhubarb and cherries is evident on the Zema Estate 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. The palate is soft with more red cherry fruit characters present. The palate further exhibits some menthol cinnamon flavours together with beetroot overtones. The acid, tannin oak structure is nicely balanced and the finish is flavoursome, medium bodied and soft and subtle. Jim McMahon

Coonawarra is renowned for its remarkable Terra Rossa soil, a thin metre band of soil over laying a deep formation of limestone. The Zema family is proudly traditional in its approach to vineyard practices, favouring hand pruning and dry grown vines to maximise fruit quality. These practices are enhanced by the location of the family’s three strategically selected prime vineyard locations, capitalising on the regions subtle climactic variations.