Bellwether Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

The fruit for the Cabernet Sauvignon comes from Mike and Brent Weatherall’s vineyard in Coonawarra. The vines were planted in the early 90’s and are now over 30 year old vines. The elevation in the vineyard provides an incredible difference in ripeness of different plots and rows. Sue is the earliest to pick in the vineyard as she wants to create wines that have liveliness, savouriness and elegance. Sue is highly involved in the canopy management and pruning of this vineyard. It is important in this vineyard to have a good airflow and loose bunches to to ensure even ripening and picks on fruit flavour rather than measuring Baume.

All vines on this vineyard are handpicked and hand-sorted. The juice undergoes a cold soak for 10-12 days in open top fermenters. 10% of the wine is kept on skins for 4-6 weeks and is blended after. After ferment, the wines are placed in Bordeaux Barriques of which 1/3 is new and the rest are 1 to 2 year old barrels for 18 months. After 18 months the wines are bottled and kept in the winery for another 3 to 4 years before release.

A dark and deep Cabernet Sauvignon with depth and layers, lovely fine grained tannins and length with freshness. The wine on the nose has dark chocolate, black currant, cassis and a hint of cedar. A little dried mint note and a deep earthy savouriness comes through on the mid palate. The wine is very layered with some secondary notes developing, mocha and tobacco leaf, well integrated into fine long grained tannins.