2017 Reserve Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon

$88.00

In stock

Limited Release – Total Production 46 dozen.

Colour: Deep crimson

Nose:Brooding aromas of cassis black cherries and dark chocolate evolving with time in the glass.

Palate:Refined and delicate on the palate showing all the hallmarks of great Cabernet. Dark plums, rhubarb and red currents with savory notes of olives. Cedar and a touch of vanillin peak out from fine grained new French oak adding a sweetness to the palate. Silky smooth tannins and a bright acidity tell true to the pedigree of this wine and its aging potential.

Awards and Reviews:

18 months in new French oak. 600 bottles made. 2017 was a cool and wet year in Margaret River, and for those who managed their vineyards with care and courage, it was a triumphant year. This wine is elegant and layered, with a supple, medium-bodied claret character. Red berries, salivating, briny acidity and very fine tannins are the making of this wine.

94 Points Erin Larkin – James Halliday Wine Companion 2022 Published 13 August 2021

Vinification: 

Picked with a Selectiv machine harvester in the early hours of the morning the grapes are tipped directly into open fermenters. The Selectiv machine removes all petioles, stems, jacks and other unwanted MOG. Inoculated directly with a bordeaux yeast strain and left to soak for 1 day before commencing a series of daily rack and returns to help extract the colour and tannin due to the cool year. When the baume approached 3 we changed to plungin 3 times a day until 0 baume where the cap was left to rest, ferment covered and allowed to macerate until the grapes had been in fermenter for 33 days.

Basket pressed off to a stainless tank for MLF and then racked to 70% new and 30% 1-2 year old oak post MLF for 15 months of maturation. The reserve wine was then a barrel selection from the overall cabernet batch where we selected two brand new barrels with 10% Cabernet from a 2 year old barrel making the blend 90% new oak and 10% 2 year old oak. No tannins or fining agents we used in the process.

2017 Vintage: The spring of 2016 was much cooler and wetter and this combined with the cooler conditions in early 2017 have seen Vintage 2017 be a more traditional Margaret River vintage. The yields for most white varieties were strong and harvest began later in February continuing well into March capturing the bright, fragrant aromas. The slower ripening has resulted in superb whites with excellent flavour profiles. The grapes were picked on 18th April 2017.