• French oak
• Blueberry
• Mint chocolate
• Full-bodied

Dense purple-red. Fragrant cassis aromas with nuances of mint chocolate and olive tapenade. Blackberry and blueberry flavours flow through the medium to full bodied palate, balanced harmoniously with fine-grained tannins and subtle notes of French oak. A contemporary McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon that expresses the synergy of this noble variety, the terroir and my personal winemaking philosophy.

After a dry start to winter we had good rainfall, ending up 10% above the long term averages, flushing and filling soil profiles to saturation. Although a mid-September bud burst was later than recent vintages it was in line with long term averages. Spring rainfall was well below average, resulting in low disease pressure. Average day and night spring temperatures were close to record highs, resulting in steady vine shoot growth, catching up some ground after the later bud burst. We had 10mm of rain on December 1st and another 15mm on December 15th, freshening the vines during early berry development. With only 6mm of rain in January and 5mm in February summer rainfall ended up only two thirds of the average. Drier and warmer than average conditions continued through March and April resulting in a disease free and orderly progression to vintage, allowing time for the potential of each batch of grapes to be maximised in the winery. Harvest started with Semillon on February 6th and our McLaren Vale white and rosé blocks were all off by February 19th when the first Davey Estate Shiraz was picked. Shiraz harvest, other than a small parcel for fortified, was completed on March 24th and Cabernet Sauvignon soon after on March 29th, just before Easter. Mataro, the last of the Grenache and Shiraz for fortification were harvested after Easter with all fruit in by April 5th.

Two great McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon blocks combine harmoniously; one, a Reynella clone planted east west in 1982 on loam and the other, a CW44 clone planted north south in 1999 on red clay. Gentle cap management, through traditional open fermentation, protects and nurtures the unique qualities of the terroir. Very fine grained French oak hogsheads are used to allow a long, slow maturation of the wine and subtle oak integration. A combination of new and 1 to 6 year-old oak barrels, crafted by select coopers to our requirements are used to create nuances and diversity of flavour.