Nose
A lifted nose of cassis and bay leaf with olive tapenade. High notes of violets and sweet tobacco leaf.
Palate
Vibrant blue and blackcurrant fruit layered with plum highlighted with sweet cedar spice notes with dried herbs of sage and oregano. Seamless palate with finely grained tannins and oak integration.
Growing Conditions
Due to the warm spring then summer season, our 2020 vintage started two weeks earlier than average. Dry and mild conditions carried on through the ripening stages of all our red varieties providing ample opportunities for perfect fruit and phenolic ripeness.
This blend is made of a single parcel of Cabernet located in the Wilyabrup area and planted of Houghton clone. The rows are north-south oriented, single cane pruned and give very low yield, especially in 2020.
Harvest
The fruit was machine harvested in early April 2021, during the early hours of the morning to get the fruit cool to the winery.
Winemaking
The fruit was received at the winery before the first lights of the day and immediately destemmed, lightly crushed just to split the berries and put into a fermenter for an immediate start to the fermentation, without cold soak. The ferment was worked with remontages exclusively, 2 to 3 times daily. The must was pressed at full dryness after 2 weeks on skins and went straight to barrels for malo-lactic fermentation and aging. On this batch, we used only French oak, about 1/3 new and the balance 2 to 4 years old. The barrels were selected and blended in November 2021 and the wine was bottled that December, filtered but without fining or stabilization.
Aging
Drink now or cellar up to 15 years
Appearance
Deep Crimson with a garnet hue
Food Pairing
Pan Seared Wagyu Steak with Parsnip puree, gratin dauphinois, bitter chocolate fondant with chestnut foam.
