The small amount of Cabernet that was grown in the 1940s and 1950s was mostly used in blends and records suggest it was Yalumba that first referred to a Shiraz and Cabernet blend in the early 1940s. That is the reason why I refer to this blend, considered an unusual combination in other countries, as the traditional Australian style.
Recall we did not drink much table wines in the 1950s so most dry reds sold would have been blends. Perhaps the future will see us returning to labels using simple terms like Dry Red and letting consumers be the judges. The current fixation on varietal branding which became accepted from the 1980s has outlived its usefulness and takes the focus from the real purpose which is judging what is in the glass.
This Light and Finniss is in the Glug model of full flavours from ripe fruit.
