• Subtle oak
• Bramble fruit
• Earthy cocoa
• Soft tannins

"Beautifully composed and styled, the wine shows blackcurrant, sweet cherry, subtle tobacco and cedar characters on the nose, leading to a concentrated palate displaying fine flow and excellent persistency. Wonderfully framed by beautifully infused tannins, making it firmly structured yet silky and satisfying. At its best: now to 2036" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Aug 2023

In the glass, the wine is a deep and dark red with a crimson and purple hue. Rich aromas leap from the glass as soon as the wine is poured. Black current, fresh cherry and earthy cocoa aromas underpinned by varietal tomato leaf, a hint of capsicum and a subtle note of oak. The aromas are mimicked by the flavours. Dark bramble flavours fill the palate before melting away to flavours of dried herbs, olive tapenade and a sweet smoked savoury note. The finish is long and persistent, finely carried by flavour as well a soft, enduring tannin. The minerality that drives the length of the wine is reminiscent of the slate that underlies the vineyard. The full bodied wine is soft and flows seamlessly across the palate. The soft powdery tannin of the Cabernet re emerges and leaves the palate fresh. This Cabernet Sauvignon is a true expression of a full yet finely balanced wine bringing the finest elements of the classic styles into the modern bright world of Australian Cabernet.

The ‘P&R’ Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the founding pillars of Topé. From long afternoon lunches to sharing a glass after a successful day at work, Tom & Pete were fascinated by this noble variety and the how it was shape by it where it was grown, the wide range of ways it is handled in a winery and its unmistakable variety richness. The ‘P&R” Cabernet is hand crafted to be a wine that while mistakably Cabernet, retaining a deep core of fruit and varietal characteristics while being a wine that flows gently across the palate and very approachable. This wine has a true identity.

The ‘P&R’ Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard sits on the Eastern range of the Clare Valley. Located just below the crest of the Western slope, the Cabernet vines enjoy the long setting sunlight hours. The dry grown vines have deep roots through the rich red soils and into the cracking slate that lines beneath. This combination of factors is ideal for cooler climate Cabernet Sauvignon, with slow ripening conditions with long soft sun light hours, the fruit is able to remain on the vine and fully develop its rich flavour profile while retaining its classical cooler climate varietal nature. The exposure and micro climate this vineyard finds itself in also provides the perfect low disease pressure environment, allowing a minimal interference approach with only a single sulphur spray being applied during the fruiting season. The 2021 season was an ideal harvest in the Clare Valley and is already be herald but winemakers and critics as potentially on of the best for a decade. With plenty of rain through the growing season, the weather cleared in time for flowering allowing for a balanced fruit set. Late frosts fell in valley in October, but due to the nature of the higher altitude and slop of the vineyard, this Cabernet block enjoyed the cooler temperatures without suffering any burn. The cool growing condition carried on into a cooler summer with evening temperature well below previous years an ideal condition for these vines. On the 4 th of April, the vineyard team harvested the ripe Cabernet. Loaded into gondolas, the bunches were taken strait to the waiting winery where they were processed that afternoon.

Picked in the morning, the bunches delivered to the winery around midday. The bunches were inspected and de stemmed. The Grapes were placed into a small, open top, stainless steel fermenter where they were covered with inert gas and chilled. Once chilled, the gapes were gently hand plunged to break the berries. The juice and grapes were covered and allowed to cold soak for 2 days, intensifying the flavour from the grape skins into the juice. After this time, the dark red juice was allowed to warm naturally and fermentation allow to initiate. One the grape skin had been lifted by the fermentation, the cap was managed initially with hand plunging. Once the cap had truly been formed, oxidative pump overs would occur twice or three times a day to keep the cap wet, drawn out the flavour and texture of the gape and manage its temperature.

After 13 days, the fermentation naturally finished and cap was permitted to sink back into the wine. The wine was then drained to a stainless steel static tank and the grape skins were dug out into a basket press. The juice from the pressed skins was returned to the drained wine, enriching its structure with natural tannin. The wine remained in this tank until the malolactic conversion was well underway, after which the wine transferred from its heavy lees and placed within 300 Litre French Hogshead barrels where it completed malo and was allowed to mature for 12 months. Over this time the wine clarified with gravity, and the clean wine was separated from its lees. The barrels were blended back together before being course filtered and going to bottle.