Winemaker Notes
As a young wine, the High Trellis has a dense, dark appearance with a ruby edge. The aroma isintense with ripe, black fruit characters suggesting mulberries, black currants and plums mixedwith notes of cedar. Earthy notes appear as the wine opens up further. The palate flaunts ripeblackcurrant, cassis, and mulberry fruit with edgy, ripe tannins and the perfect balance of oak.
This wine is approachable now and will gain considerable complexity and secondary savorycharacters with time in the bottle. The optimum drinking age is over the next 10 to 15 years.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 The High Trellis Cabernet Sauvignon includes 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot in the blend. The nose offers up cassis and violets along with pepper and earth notes. On the palate, black fruits dominate the nicely concentrated flavors. There is enough structure for 2-3 years of additional bottle age. It will be at its best from 2010 to 2017.
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Wine Enthusiast
Featuring tobacco, cassis and lesser quantities of mint and cocoa, d’Arenberg’s The High Trellis Cabernet is a full-bodied wine that offers plenty of flavor interest and depth at a reasonable price. It does show some slightly chewy, dusty tannins on the finish, but the fruit ultimately wins through, suggesting it will be at its best from 2010–2020.
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.
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.