Nose
An appealing gentle fragrance of violets over the top of ripe mulberry, blackberry, black cherry, cassis & dark chocolate
Palate
The palate is elongated, structured, & layered with a fleshy ripe fruit core which is framed with very fine tannins that will ensure longevityWinemaking
Growing Conditions
2018 is considered to be a superb year for Cabernet Sauvignon due to a very wet winter (& start to spring) which invigorated the soils, a very dry November, rain in December (which is unusual), followed by warm dry conditions. A splash of rain in January freshened things up, then a return to warm dry conditions & cool nights right the way through to mid-April. A long warm dry Indian summer - so tannins are ripe & ultra-fine, alcohols moderate, with excellent natural acidity
Harvest
A single vineyard wine from the 45 year-old original plantings. Unirrigated to this day, the vineyard is certified 'Sustainable' by Sustainable WInemaking Austraia. Hand-picked between 21st March - 13th April 2018 at 13.6-14.2° Bé
Bottling
The wine was bottled November 2019
Winemaking
94.3% Cabernet Sauvignon (Houghton clone), 3.8% Malbec & 1.9% Cabernet Franc were carefully hand-picked, then sorted for optimum quality. The fruit was destemmed & cold-soaked for up to five days which allows a gentle extraction of colour, aroma & flavour pre-ferment: the cool temperature preventing the ferment from initiating. The fruit spent up to 12 days on skins to extract colour, tannin & flavour, with the ferment taking place in hand-plunged open fermenters, then up to a further 22 days on skins post-ferment.
Aging
This was followed by maturation in French barriques for 17 months, of which 45% were new.
Appearance
Deep, dark red
Food Pairing
Beef Wellington
