2022 Heirloom Vineyards Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

Heirloom Vineyards was conceived in vintage 2000, when a young winemaking student caught the eye of a silly old wine judge. A love story ensued inspired by two vows: To preserve the best of tradition, the old world of wine and our unique old vineyards and to champion the best clones of each variety planted in the most appropriate sites embracing the principals of organic farming. Seven long vintages of trial and error passed before Heirloom Vineyards could make a wine that was fine enough to pass on to future generations. That is this wine. This Heirloom Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon was produced from our best Coonawarra Vineyard whose clones and viticulture embody the very best in cutting edge but old school viticulture and winemaking. Hand tended vines, sorted bunch by bunch, naturally open fermented, basket-pressed and stored in 30% new American and French oak for 18 months. Dark, black-violet; a little brooding. AROMA Mulberry fruits and tobacco leaves drying. Pencil shavings. Cassis and blackberries - blackberries eaten greedily. These cabernet aromas are dove-tailed into the bouquet of subtle oak - sarsaparilla and cola nut. Then aromaticity returns: mint, spearmint, and the most impossibly, barest whiff of tomato leaf. PALATE A hand-laid, mortar-free, dry stone wall of cabernet’s antediluvian quality: tannin. This is a dry, long and carefully structured red wine. All dark berries and fruits, mint, and eucalypt lurking in the shadows of the tannic structure, but lurking never-the-less. The brighter blackberry flavours provide a cooling and refreshing quality, promising age-worthiness, but also providing delight now.