One of my favourite Australian Cabernet Sauvignons. It isn’t cheap but it is in form. A multiregional blend with 75% of the grapes coming from the Leston Vineyard in the Margaret River and the remainder from the soon-to-be-named Abercrombie Vineyard planted in 1975 in the Mount Barker subregion of the Great Southern. Maturation takes place for 18 months in French barriques.
A stately wine. Smells deep and serious. Mulberries, blackcurrants and drinking chocolate with a cedar background. Tobacco, aniseed, sage and gum leaf in the wings. Subdued clove and pepper spice. Excellent balance between all elements. Holds rank at every turn. The tannins are of the highest order and the finish is immaculate. Should make gorgeous old bones. 95
Region: Margaret River, Great Southern
Alcohol: 14.0%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $113
Tasted: May 2014
“soon-to-be-named Abercrombie Vineyard”
Is there some sort of regulated process for naming a vineyard in Australia? I’d have thought that if you own it, you can call it whatever you like…
BTW, Jeremy, this sounds very good but a bit ‘missionary’… am I being unfair?
Cheers
GP
Very good question GP. I wondered the same thing myself. I’m not aware of any regulations but I couldn’t be certain. In short all I can tell you is that it is currently known as the Dennis Vineyard…which doesn’t answer your question at all. My apologies.
The ‘missionary’ question is a tough one. I think there’s a lot of layers of flavour and plenty of complexity here and vintages I’ve had with age such as the 2004 and 2005 seem to me to have an X-factor about them. But I don’t think that’s a result of a radically different approach to vinification. I suspect it’s more to do with sensitive treatment of high quality fruit produced by extremely good sites. So while the wheel isn’t being reinvented I wouldn’t label it missionary myself. But I guess ultimately it depends on your definition.