Our Wines

Size: 750ml
Alcohol: 12.9%
197 dozen produced, 0 remaining

Tasting Notes

A very pretty, light Cabernet reflecting the late season. An elegant wine with floral aromas on the nose along with varietal characters of mint and tomato leaf. A rounded mouthfeel and a palate bursting with raspberries and cassis ending with good length.

Ratings

90 (Halliday)

Food Matching

This wine is light enough to enjoy with a firm or oily fish like salmon or sardines but will also pair well with white meats like chicken. A perfect match to a creamy mushroom risotto or to a chicken pie. Robust enough to also enjoy with lamb rack or your Sunday roast.

Viticulture

Vintage 2017 had the wettest Spring we have ever experienced. 500mm of rain in the months of June, July and August were followed by a record 255mm in September - the month we would usually see things starting to dry out. Our vines burst late and as things warmed up the threat of Downy Mildew meant we needed to spray. The ground was far too wet for a tractor so we put our first two sprays on using a helicopter (which took about 15 minutes compared to my seven odd hours in the tractor!) A wetter than usual growing season turned into a beautifully warm and dry autumn - as if someone had turned off a tap. This helped to slowly and evenly ripen our fruit. The Cabernet is usually harvested early in April but the late season meant we left it to hang until it was eventually frosted in early May. As the leaves were falling off as a result we decided we couldn't get it much riper and hand harvested on the 10th May.

Winemaking

The wine was made in two batches due to space constraints at our normal winery. The smaller batch (~1 tonne) was destemmed and sorted before being pumped to an open fermenter. This fruit was not crushed other than what was done by the pump. The second batch (~2.3 tonnes) was destemmed and crushed, also into an open fermenter. Ferments were similar with both wines being pressed off skins when dry. The wines were matured in a mixture of tanks and French oak barriques, with 2 new barriques being used. Final blending and bottling was done in September 2019, with the final wine being un-fined and un-filtered and with only minimal sulfur addition.