We have curated a special selection of wines from our cellar exclusively for our wine club members.
Sourced from individual blocks within our estate, Reserve wines encompass the very best fruit from the most exceptional vintages. Each block is hand harvested, with each bunch surveyed in the vineyard to determine its Reserve status. Often featuring our original 1972 plantings, these complex wines offer unique expressions of varietal, time and place.
A short, compressed vintage shaped by a warm, dry season. Despite early concerns of density from rapid ripening, the wines showed balance, lifted fruit, and fine tannins.
Warm conditions continued through to the New Year, allowing strong canopy growth to support fruit development. February brought 45mm of rain, followed by eight consecutive days above 30°C.
Fruit from our original 1972 plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon was handpicked early in the morning into small buckets, with bunch selection done in the vineyard. The bunches were de-stemmed into a stainless-steel open fermenter allowing 100% whole berries. Fermentation was wild with hand plunging daily and malolactic fermentation occurring during this period. The wine was pressed off skins directly to a mix of 300L and 500L French oak barrels (approximately 20% new) and remained on lees for 12 months. The final wine was gently racked to bottle without fining or filtration.
96 points, Halliday Wine Companion 2021
"Yet another great within the current release. It is the polished sterling silver that delineates the varietal cassis fruit, and the managing of the wine during fermentation, that simply nullifies any raw edge to young cabernet tannins found in otherwise fine wines. This is a cabernet that pinot lovers have to admire."
James Halliday, June 2021
