Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The cooler year yielded a long growing season (fruit picked late April, no marri blossoms, some bird pressure), and as such, the tannins had ample time to resolve, without dropping acidity due to inclement heat events, and the same goes for fruit detail. This is a very good to excellent Cabernet vintage when managed diligently in the vineyard.
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Wine Spectator
It’s masterful to craft a wine that is structured, detailed, powerful and concentrated, and yet, it feels effortless. Mulberries, cassis, warm spices, violets and cedary oak come together in harmony while the tannins sashay across the palate. Flavours persist, as does the finish, and it will age beautifully but hard to resist now. Impressive wine.
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James Suckling
This cuvee has improved with global warming, promoting better ripening patterns in Margaret River’s southern sector where this address lies. Still, elements of pimento and verdant garden herbs are slotted in amidst aromas of red and blackcurrant, lilac, sage, black olive and thyme. There is much to love about this wine, almost resembling a riper Loire franc. While the astringent gristle should tone with bottle age, I am tasting what’s in front of me. This should age reasonably well, even if rather green as it stands. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
A subtle streaked bacon note perches atop red and blue fruit, smudged in savory spice, eucalypt, tobacco and vanillin oak character. The palate balances power with freshness via chalky, slightly drying tannins and crunchy acidity. Still young, and in a somewhat reticent phase at the moment, this is nonetheless a regionally and varietally expressive drop that should age a decade or more.
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.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.