Winemaker Notes
The growing season was affected by a very hot spring, leading to the lowest yields on Hickinbotham's record. When the grapes started their ripening process in January, the weather miraculously cooled to a very mild ripening season. This resulted in wonderful concentration of flavor, retention of natural acidity and brightness of fruit, delivering wines with beautiful finesse and balanced tannins. The 2020 Revivalist shows ripe plum, vanilla, olive paste, toast, with integrated tannins supporting huckleberry, orange rind, spice and a lush finish on the palate.
Blend: 89% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, less than 1% Malbec & Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A distinctive version, with a velvety core of blueberry and blackberry notes that show a touch of huckleberry, accented by fresh rosemary, bay leaf and sage notes, plus details of tobacco, salted black licorice and oolong tea that linger on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2034.
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Australian Wine Companion
Hand picked and destemmed to whole berries. Wild fermented after a brief cold soak; 21 days on skins. Pressed to classy barriques (50% new). Full bodied, suave and dense, yet does not stray into decadence. Fine drinking. Damson plum, vanillin oak, spice and a swathe of dusty tannins driving across the finish. Forward and certainly approachable already. Fine drinking. More to come?
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 The Revivalist Merlot comes from vines that were planted 1971. The fruit here is leafy and decidedly pink in its fruit profile. Classic and elegant—the tannins are very soft, and the fruit is delicate. It is concentrated in a pure kind of way. Nicely done.
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Wine Enthusiast
There's a dusty library feel to the nose of this McLaren Vale Merlot, from vines over 50 years old. It, combined with dried-cherry and cigar-box aromas, subtle fine tannins and moderate acidity, gives an impression of wine older than this is. Nevertheless, despite some toasted coconut oak influence showing, it's nuanced, with layers rarely seen in this variety Down Under. Just don't leave it in the cellar for too long.
With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
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.