The Colonial Estate Etranger Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
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The prime terroir that makes up the ‘Northern Arc' of the Barossa Valley lends itself to the production of Cabernet Sauvignon – particularly the area around Greenoack where one finds red clay. Handpicked grapes are given the full triage treatment and rotation pumped during fermentation before being aged in French and American oak. Inky black, deep flavored wine.
Selected blocks of single-wire trellis vines from Greenock and the surrounding regions of Marananga and Stockwell in the Barossa Valley were blended for this wine. Viticultural techniques included minimal irrigation, low cropping and canopy management to maximise fruit maturation under optimum conditions. When judged flavor-ripe the grapes were handpicked into shallow trays.
There's impressive structure here but the wine is bursting with lush, sweet dark fruit flavors.
CWC's approach is deliberately and uniquely French. The wines are handpicked into trays and double-sorted. The reds receive cold pre-maceration, delestages, pigeage, and maceration on the skins prior to ageing in French oak; whilst the whites get whole-bunch pressing and lees batonnage and are fermented with yeasts imported from Champagne. The reds come, in principle from the prime Northern Arc of the Barossa Valley and the whites from the cool-climate of the Adelaide Hills. The wines are produced from vines that are either owned by the Company or are from selected growers.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.