The cool season has imparted a little more elegance to the Chapel Hill Cabernet Sauvignon this year. It was matured almost entirely in 300 litre French oak hogsheads (22% new) for 19 months.
Fresh fruited blackberry and mulberry flavour with earthy root vegetables and roasted red bell peppers. Chocolate and cedar oak, hints of autumnal leaf and a glint of minty refreshment on the back-palate. Spry, clean and flavoursome with some gratifyingly fine tannin wrapping things up. I think this is the last of the 2011 Chapel Hill reds I’ll taste before we move onto the 2012s and I believe it’s worth congratulating Michael Fragos, Bryn Richards and viticulturist Rachel Steer on a job well done. The Grenache remains my favourite wine in the stable… 90
Region: McLaren Vale
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $35
Tasted: August 2013