Nose
Clean, pure and concentrated with a perfumed fragrance of cassis and lavender.
The cedar oak is well integrated and balanced, adding complexity along with hints
of bay leaf, damp earth and gravel dust.
Palate
Medium bodied with a long firm palate and fine grain tannins. Once again, lavender
and cassis dominate with underlying complex characters of bay leaf, cocoa and
cedar oak.
Growing Conditions
Hand picked from a selection of super premium cabernet vineyards at our disposal
including a portion of open lyre trellis. As always, meticulous management of bud
numbers and shoot thinning ensure a balanced canopy to ripen the crop. The
vines grow in the well regarded gravelly/granite soils of Northern Margaret River
and are allowed to reach full ripeness before harvesting. The 2016 vintage saw
some late summer rain during the veraison period (colour change in berries). This
had minimal effect on the grapes with the following warm conditions allowing the
fruit to fully ripen with minimal disease pressure. Our best Cabernet blocks were
harvested between the 21st of March and the 26th of March.
Bottling
Maturation lasted 17 months before the wine was bottled in September 2017.
Bottled under screw cap to ensure the wine retains its varietal and regional
integrity for longer
Winemaking
The fruit was harvested in the morning, delivered to the winery and was processed
straight away on receival. Fermentation was controlled at 25-29 degrees Celsius in
our small open fermenters with heading down boards. Extraction was achieved
by daily draining of the wine away from the skins and returning back over the top,
with fermentation and maceration times varying from 7 to 30 days. The wine was
then pressed to a blend of new and older French oak barriques to complete malo
- lactic fermentation.
Aging
17 months - 44% new, 56% two and three year old French oak barriques.
Appearance
Deep red with a red - purple hue.
Food Pairing
Traditional roast lamb with rosemary.
