Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Valle Central, Chile (~£7)
Classic Chile blackcurrant pastille tinged with mint, but also with a warm Mediterranean dusty herb edge, plus berry and vanilla flavours. B+

Wakefield Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Clare Valley, Australia (£8.49 Majestic – £6.49 until end of Jan 2010)
Warm blackberry edge of Cabernet Sauvignon, a tinge of eucalyptus, honest earthy edge, but slightly hard on the finish. B(-)

The Wine Society St Julien (Château Beychevelle) 2006, Bordeaux, France (£19 The Wine Society)
Fresh blackcurrant tinged with pencil shavings/cigar box, plus a briny Atlantic edge, elegant, long and classy, with a refreshing finish, still young. S

Howard Park Leston Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Margaret River, Australia (£14.99 Bibendum, Noel Young)
Intense blackcurrant character, but there’s also this leafy, almost cabbage-like vegetal edge that intrudes and takes away the pleasure – and doesn’t seem to diminish with time. B(+)

Torres Mas La Plana Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Penedès, Spain (£23.99 Majestic, Ipswich Wines, Fortnum and Mason, The Wine Shop, Planet of the Grapes)
Classy wine with fabulous rounded but not too ripe black fruit, oak adding vanilla sheen, and a dusty, warm brick like character on top of the Mediterraneasn herbiness. Still with its best ahead of it. S(+)