Country: Australia
Region: Margaret River
Vintage: 2022
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol volume: 14.0%
Closure: Screwcap

Appearance
Bright condition, deep ruby with purple hues.

Aroma
Bright and lifted aromatics with intense dark fruits of mulberry, blackberry, blueberry and plum. These fruit notes then give way to tobacco leave, cigar box, sage and bay leaf. The oak is subtle and integrated with notes of vanilla bean, cinnamon and cedar.

Palate
The palate is dense and rich in all of the Cabernet fruit spectrum- blackberry, blueberry, red currants and black cherry. Fresh acidity and violets sit in behind this as well as background notes of nutmeg, clove and earth. Tannins are dense, mouth coating and velvet-like with subtle, dusty oak notes on the finish.

Cellaring potential
We anticipate that a minimum of 10 years will be required to see the first signs of bottle development, with further complexity—cedar, earth, and classic aged Cabernet characters—emerging between 15 and 20 years. However, for those with patience, full maturity will take at least 25 years, and we expect this wine to evolve beautifully for 40 years or more.

Vinification
All the fruit was hand harvested and delivered to the winery, where it was carefully hand-sorted and destemmed. Each variety was then placed into small, open fermenters and seeded for primary fermentation with multiple yeast strains and hand plunged 3 times per day, for extraction of colour and flavour. Time on skins varied from 13 to 16 days, depending on tannin balance and after pressing, each batch underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before being adjusted and racked to oak in May 2022. All barrels were 228 litre French oak and 16% were new. In December 2022 all batches were racked and returned to wood for the second year and then in November 2023 all batches were racked again to stainless steel and the wine was blended for the first time. The makeup is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The finished blend was returned to wood, where it stayed until October 2024, when all barrels were racked and blended for the final time in stainless steel. Fining trials were carried out but none improved the tannin balance and so the wine remained unfined. It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 25th October, 2024.

Ken Gargett
98 Points
This stunning Margaret River Cabernet has 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot included. The team talk of some of the difficulties encountered by Margaret River wineries during this year, but everything is relative and a difficult vintage here seems to be the dream of many other regions. It was a year that finished extremely well, though, with a longer than average ripening period. Yields were down but in the end, some stellar fruit was harvested. Maturation was in French oak, 16% new, for around seventeen months. A deep maroon hue, there are notes of spices, herbs, black fruits, cloves, cassis, graphite, chocolate and tobacco leaves. A touch of biscuity oak, very well integrated, this is a wine of focus and intensity, and at all times it is immaculately balanced. Utterly seamless and seductive, there is a line of fine acidity running the full journey and the silkiest of tannins on the finish. This will easily sail through the next fifteen to twenty years, providing immense pleasure along the way. A superb Cabernet.

Aaron Brasher
97 Points
Youthful, bright red and dark in the glass. Complex aromas of blackberry, graphite, bramble, wet gravel, cedar, violets, dried herbs and dark cherry. Poised, fine and precise in flavour. Lively and textured, with a core of briary black fruits, grainy, chalky tannins, a touch of ferrous earth and punchy, snappy acidity. There’s lovely complexity, sophistication and class here.

Jane Faulkner
97 Points
When you’re the flagship, there’s always pressure because you must be the best of the best. Well, take a bow. This harnesses all the power of fruit and winemaking, all seemingly effortlessly, and turns it into an elegant, stunning wine balancing savouriness with fruit. Just the right amount of cassis, mulberries, violets and spicy, cedary oak, nori and menthol and more besides. The palate builds yet stays just shy of fuller bodied with fine-grained tannins, refreshing acidity and superb length. Excellent now and with decades ahead of it. Oh and another accolade, this represents the 50th vintage of the wine. Take another bow.


Cassandra Charlick
97 Points
Still a baby of a wine, tightly bundled, but goodness: the presence is there. Toasty oak wraps the fruit, yet it’s well matched to the power of 2022. Red fruit laced with aniseed, a graphite through line and warm spice – just a pinch of vanilla. The palate is like lifting the gate to a dam – the flavour and shape swooshes through and it’s heart stopping. Tannins are incredibly fine and silken, so much so that they are almost indistinguishable, and acidity just trips along lightly. This has impeccable structure behind the intensity of fruit. A true sum of its parts, juicy and structured, fluid and effortless. An energetic Cabernet that displays an honest exuberance in its youth, yet will age with serious intention.