Winemaker Notes
Deep purple with aromas of dark chocolate, black fruits and olives. The palate continiues the theme, showing these typical Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon characters. Supple and mouth watering, with ripe tannins that add structure.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Taut and elegant with a fine mousse. Hawthorn and elderflower give way to crisp green apple and quince characters. The palate explodes with buttered brown toast and thickly spread lemon curd. Super crisp and long.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
All Cabernet, all new French oak (a mix of hogsheads and puncheons) and all Barossa, the 2015 Ashmead Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is a beautiful example of Barossa Cabernet. The nose features mint and cassis notes that are almost floral. The palate is full-bodied but elegant, firm but silky. The finish is long and lined with fine-grained tannins and a touch of aristocratic austerity. And the entire package is varietally distinct and built to age for two decades from the vintage. Well done.
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James Suckling
A step to a more serious cabernet here. This wine speaks strongly to Barossa Valley’s fruit depth and concentration. Blueberries, cassis and deeply rich and velvety tannins. Holds long and fresh.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a rich, silky-textured wine that shows bright notes of plum, raspberry, clove, dried herbs and coffee. On the palate, plump red berries are balanced by a line of tightly wound tannins. The oak is a little prominent, particularly on the finish. This should cellar well through 2029.
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.
The Barossa Zone encompasses the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Some of the oldest vines in Australia can be found here.
Barossa Valley of course is the most important and famous wine growing region in all of Australia where 140+ year-old, dry-farmed Shiraz vines still produce inky, purple and dense juice for some of Australia's best wines.
In the cooler, wetter Eden Valley sub-region, the Hill of Grace vineyard is home to famous Shiraz vines from the 1800s but the region produces also some of Australia’s very best and age-worthy Rieslings.