Nose
A complex & concentrated nose suggestive of an array of red & black skinned berries, vanilla & a touch of cigar box
Palate
An example of power with finesse showing concentrated fruit flavours, integrated oak & seamless tannins
Growing Conditions
The season started with a long, wet winter. The cool conditions saw the latest start to vintage for 11 years, but a plentiful and glorious crop. Rain at the end of March necessitated dropping bunches to remove diseased clusters, and to allow the remaining fruit to achieve both flavour and sugar ripeness, and to recover to their full intensity. Cabernet Sauvignon was a standout variety this year
Harvest
A single vineyard wine from the 44-year old original plantings. Unirrigated to this day, the vineyard is sustainably farmed following organic principles and is sitauated Forest Grove duplex soil
Bottling
The wine was bottled in November 2018
Winemaking
Hand-picked, then sorted for optimum quality. The fruit was cold-soaked for four days which allows a gentle extraction of colour, aroma & flavour pre-ferment; the cool temperature preventing the ferment from initiating. The fruit spent between 16-20 days on skins to extract colour, tannin & flavour, with the ferment taking place in a mix of hand-plunged open fermenters & pumped-over closed fermenters
Aging
Maturation in French barriques for 20 months, of which 50% were new.
Appearance
Deep red with purple hues
Food Pairing
Scotch fillet with mixed mushroom sauce
