Winemaker Notes
Thee 2021 Trueman reveals blueberry, dark chocolate, olive, g, toast, black licorice, and boysenberry.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon hails from the Hickinbotham vineyard in Clarendon, in McLaren Vale. It is truly one of the lovely vineyard areas in Australia, with rolling hills, dramatic valleys and a proximity to the ocean. From memory, this vineyard was planted to Houghton clone, or includes some of the Houghton clone selection in it (from Western Australia), and the wine feels structural and velvety at once. You get cassis, raspberry compote, dark chocolate, tobacco, licorice (salted black cats!), cardamom and mulberry off the bush in summer. It's a wonderful wine, pleasurable, complex, poised and rounding out with a delicious delivery of ductile Cabernet tannin. Ripper. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
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James Suckling
A large-framed wine defined by a serendipitous ripening season and skilled craftsmanship. The tannins, perfectly managed and refined. The oak, so enticing and appealing. The sheer density of currant, sage, black olive, rosemary and thyme, an immaculate forcefield. This is one for the cellar. An Australian wine that tastes, as it always has, as if it was made by an American with a deep comprehension of tannin management. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
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Wine Enthusiast
Supple black cherry and blood plum lead, the tobacco and mocha-toast barrel influence creeping in behind. It's a powerful wine with a taut line of muscular, dusty tannins currently dominating. Give this time in bottle though, and it should evolve with grace and beauty. Drink 2026—2041.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
This rich version offers a velvety mix of dark chocolate–covered dried blueberry, huckleberry and wild blackberry flavors at the core, with a dense accent of bittersweet chocolate, while touches of green olive and dried sage add a savory element. The tannins bring an appealing dusty quality that complements the loamy earth and cocoa powder grace notes. Drink now through 2037.
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.