Nose

Ripe berry fruits with chocolate mint characters typical of Margaret River
Cabernet Sauvignon.

Palate

Good concentration of ripe sweet berry fruits with impressive mid palate
fleshiness. Soft round palate profile with ripe tannin at finish.

Growing Conditions

It has been a carefree run for winemakers in Margaret River over the last
eight seasons with perfect season following one after another, and then 2015 came along
and took us out of our comfort zone.
In the late part of 2014, in October particularly, we experienced some of the wildest
windiest weather for decades, resulting in one of the worst flowerings on record with
windy and wet conditions seriously compromising fruit set with the result that the
yields of 2015 were the lowest that I have experienced in 23 years of growing grapes in
the South West. Ouch.
The season itself was quite warm in the early part, and very dry. We had a break
between white and red varieties as the summer stuttered with some cooler weather
giving an extended ripening period for red varieties resulting in well coloured and
beautifully ripe grapes. The 2015 red wines are wonderfully well balanced medium
bodied, even elegantly structured that may prove to be some of the wines of the
decade. Albeit in worryingly small quantities.

Winemaking

This traditional blend of the two classic grape varieties is designed
to produce a wine with a complete palate profile. Cabernet Sauvignon is the structurally
strongest variety with good flavour in the early and late part of the taste spectrum backed
up by fine tannin. Merlot has less flavour persistence than Cabernet Sauvignon but has
wonderful mid palate fleshiness giving a sweet fruit centre to the wine. The grapes were
sourced from Margaret River; the premier grape producing region of Western Australia.
Fermentation in open topped vessels with traditional pump over cap management
produced a wine with loads of fruit flavours and background tannin providing structure
without astringency. Maturation in French oak barriques for 10 months adds further
complexity and structure without dominating the fruit.

Appearance

Vibrant youthful red hues of good depth.