Dark cherry red in hte glass with a perfumed nose of floral notes open to concentrated blackberries and savoury spices. This is classic Margaret River Cabernet. Blackberries, cassis, blueberries and mocha notes jump out. Full of sweet seductive fruits, there is also an underlying savoury edge to the blend giving notes of cedar and nutmeg. The tannins are silky but powerful and combine with the acid to give this wine wonderful structure and length.

The mild spring conditions merged into a warm and dry start to summer, with the vines on track slightly earlier than normal. These conditions were interrupted in mid-January 16, with 70mm of rain falling in the vineyard due to a tropical rain event. With this moisture came the challenge of increased fungal pressure on the fruit – 2 weeks out from the white harvest (leading to a very stressed Viticulturalist and Winemaker). For the reds, it gave them a much appreciated drink in the lead up to harvest in late March – early April. Despite this challenge, all fruit harvested are of exceptional quality, showing intense varietal characters.

The fruit for this wine came exclusively from our 40+ year old, dry-grown Margaret River Estate vineyard. After crushing and de-stemming the fruit underwent fermentation in small 10 tonne static fermenters. The traditional method of pumping over was employed during fermentation to optimise colour, flavour and tannin extraction. Near the end of fermentation, the wine was pressed, with the pressings and free-run wine kept as one, and then inoculated for MLF with selected bacteria. After the completion of MLF the wine was racked and transferred to French oak barrels (30% new). After 13 months of barrel maturation the various wine components were blended together and then bottled. This wine is complex, it will definitely reward the patient consumer over the next ten + years with proper cellaring, if you can wait.