Nose
The wine is clean, fresh and has an inviting berry fruit nose. Aromas of vanilla
bean ice-cream and fresh strawberries.
Palate
The palate is fresh and lively with rich juicy red fruit characters. Lingering fruit
flavours carry through the palate which finishes with just a hint of red wine texture. The
perfect wine to enjoy on a spring or summers day.
Growing Conditions
Vintage 2017 is over, and what a long, and strange, one it was. Every vintage is
different; lessons learned from the previous year don’t always help the following year.
2017 vintage started late, two to three weeks later than the preceding couple of years.
During the middle and latter part of March the South-West regional including Margaret River
experienced a very unusual amount of rain and very cool weather, ripening over this period
was very slow. The first suggestions of worry started to appear in growers eyes. Of recent
history Margaret River has experienced very dry conditions in March and early April with the
season breaking mid to late April, not a problem with all the grapes picked. But this year the
concern was that if the season broke in mid April all the red grapes would be still on the vine.
However anyone that lived though the late April and early May in the South-West of Western
Australia will testify that never had we had a better, warmer early autumn. It was simply
perfect; cool crisp mornings and evenings but beautiful warm and sunny days; not too hot,
textbook conditions for great ripening especially for the key Margaret River variety Cabernet
Sauvignon.
2017 may well prove to be a classic Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon year, a year like 1994
with great flavours and mature tannin at lower alcohol levels. Elegant rather than robust,
flavour rather than force.
Winemaking
With minimal skin contact the wine exhibits a light bright appearance
with colour in the salmon pink spectrum. Fermentation to almost dry has produced a
clean and refreshingly lively palate. There is just the hint of savoury texture indicating its
origins of quality red grapes.
The 2017 Pitchfork Pink is a great example of modern Australian rose, light years away
from the dark ruby red, sweet and heavy examples of the past.
Appearance
Bright and clear salmon pink hues.