Sticks Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 (Australia)

Description

• French oak
• Blackcurrant
• Smokey spice
• Fine & firm tannins

Dense dark red with purple hues. Classic nose of blackcurrant, bay and polished leather with a savoury graphite note. The palate is rich and full with cassis, bramble fruit characters with its cigar box and a hint of smokey spice. Fine but firm cocoa-like tannins.

Sourced from a single vineyard in in Coldstream containing four clones of Cabernet Sauvignon.

A cold winter and start to spring , followed by some rain just before flowering and fruit set led to an above average crop for the 2018 vintage. Early Summer brought further rain - meaning that the mildew pressure pre-Christmas was very high. But once through this period, the rain had set up the vineyards for a cracking vintage. From mid-January right through March the weather was dry and warm, creating perfect conditions to ripen Cabernet Sauvignon. Great colour, lots of fruit and phenolic ripeness are the hallmarks of vintage 2018.

The fruit was destemmed and crushed into static fermenters and inoculated straight away at low rates to promote a slow start fermentation. One tank remained on skins for two weeks of post ferment maceration. After pressing, wines were racked to 300L French oak hogsheads (10% new) for malolactic fermentation and maturation. Over the next 18 months the barrels were racked and returned a couple of times. The naturally settled wines were then racked and blended in preparation for bottling in January 2020.