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RATINGS & REVIEWS
We have received some great ratings and reviews over the years. Check them out!
Cabernet Sauvignon Classified as "EXCELLENT" in The Langton's Classification VII
EXCELLENT
The seventh edition of Langton's Classification of Australian Wines saw Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon ranking amongst benchmark quality Australian Wines: "The classic, age-worthy Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon, with its beautiful fragrance, purity of fruit, structure and vitality, has played a significant part in shaping Margaret River’s premium wine image. After winning the Jimmy Watson Trophy in successive years for the 1982 and 1983 vintages, it became a modern legend inspiring a whole generation of winemakers to succeed in their craft."
90/5/5% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/petit verdot. Hand-picked fruit, on skins for up to 91 days. Matured for 18 months in mainly French oak (10% Hungarian), 58% new. 2017 was cool and wet, yet here is responsible for a wine that is ripe and rich. The red fruit on the palate has both density and power, yet is nuanced by a soft, leafy, floral character. The palate is plush and bolstered by oak, which is making a significant impact right now, but the tannins remain fine. Clove bud and aniseed lace together through the finish. The length of flavour is the ultimate testament to quality here.
A mix of 4 clones; Gin Gin, 76, 95 and 5. Hand picked, whole-bunch pressed, wild ferment in barrel. A very sophisticated nose, textural, worked and complex. The fruit has a rich, ripe viscosity to it and a fierce salty edge. Red apple skins and tea leaves, salted kelp, slippery ripe yellow peach and a fair whack of curry leaf, brine and preserved lemon. This is happening. A subtle shift in style here, more multifaceted and shimmering, always moving, like dappled sunlight. The best chardonnay under this label to date.
A blend of parcels from the Trinders Vineyard (great power and depth) and from the Chapman Brook Vineyard (nuanced, fine, floral characters). 50-70 days on skins; 21 months in French (80%) and American (20%) oak, 50% new oak overall. The result is a powerful, layered shiraz wanting to be a cabernet sauvignon, but isn't unduly put out by having to remain what it is.
91/9% zinfandel/shiraz. Hand picked, wild ferment, on skins for 51 days, left for 7 months on ferment lees, blended and matured a further 12 months in (50% new) oak, a 50/25/25% mix of French, Hungarian and American. From the near-perfect 2018 vintage, springs this intense, oak-driven and concentrated wine. The year has imparted a concentrated ripeness and balance that will stand it in good stead in the cellar. The evident oak is distracting right now, but will surely mellow over time. A wine with a cult following.
A really good wine that was (and remains) a trail blazer for long-lived SBS in the style of white Bordeaux. Barrel fermentation is an important part of the wine's style - when done well you get a wine such as this.
86/14% Margaret River/Geographe. 89/7/2/1% shiraz/alicante boushet/viognier/grenache. On skins for up to 48 days, 18 months on lees in French oak (35% new). The complex regional/varietal blending has blurred the clarity of the shiraz. This clearly has class and presence, but it lacks precise expression of region and variety.
Taut, ripe and still with a steely backbone of mineral acid that courses over the palate. 2020 was warm and early , but by all accounts, brilliant. Certainly the majority of releases feel just as this does: very concentrated and on track. Juniper, red apple, brine, crushed shell, green peppercorn and wisps of jasmine tea and camomile flower.
55/40/3/2% shiraz/cabernet sauvignon/merlot/zinfandel. A first – shiraz has not previously been part of the blend for the Trinders. On skins for 48 days, matured mainly in barrel for 10 months (5% new, American, French and Hungarian). Intense, dense and almost chewy, the alcohol leaves a trace on the finish. The oak is very evident on both nose and palate, but the ripe fruit is up to the task. This appears to have all the prerequisites for ageing. Impressive, for the price.
54/26/20% merlot/petit verdot/ malbec. On skins for 54 days, basket pressed with pressings added back, left on ferment lees for 18 months in French barriques (50% new). Dark and dense with secondary characters already forming on the palate. This has leather strapping and exotic spice, putting one in mind of a Bordeaux blend rather than Margaret River. There's a charcuterie/sausage character through the finish. Very attractive and quite unexpected. Will age prodigiously.
