Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2010 The Benbournie Cabernet Sauvignon opens with alluring creme de cassis and floral aromas accented by violets, mint, some cloves and pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, it is richly textured with firm, fine tannins, a very fresh acid line and a long finish. It should age though is approachable now and will drink to 2015+.
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Wine Enthusiast
Only released in top vintages, this is Jim Barry's luxury cuvée of Cabenet Sauvignon. It does see plenty of oak, so it shows impressive notes of baking spices, vanilla and brown sugar, but it backs those with ample dark fruit. It's elegant despite its size, with a fine-grained tannins lingering on the finish. Drink now–2025, and possibly beyond.
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Wine Spectator
Generous, lush and velvety, with an expressive mix of plum, cassis and dried rosemary notes. Juicy and vibrant on the finish, which sings with accents of cedar and tobacco. Drink now through 2028. 20 cases imported.
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 Clare Valley is actually a series of narrow north to south valleys, each with a different soil type and slightly different weather patterns along their stretch. In the southern heartland between Watervale and Auburn, there is mainly a crumbled, red clay loam soil called terra rossa and cool breezes come in from Gulf St. Vincent. A few miles north, in Polish Hill, is soft, red loam over clay; westerlies blowing in from the Spencer Gulf influece this area's climate.
The differences in soil, elevation, degree of slope and weather enable the region to produce some of Australia’s finest, aromatic, spicy and lime-pithy Rieslings, as well as excellent Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with ripe plummy fruit, good acid and big structure.
Clare Valley is an isolated farming country with a continental climate known for its warm and sunny days, followed by cool nights—perfect for wine grapes’ development of sugar and phenolic ripeness in conjunction with notable acidity levels.