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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."
Cape Mentelle has some very expensive, but very effective, grape sorting equipment, and this may be part of the reason for the purity and the singularity of this beautiful cabernet. It's all there, all laid out for you, blackcurrant/cassis fruit, spicy/earthy undertones and perfectly ripened tannins standing guard over the fruit. The oak is subtle, but has been carefully orchestrated.
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.
A bright, youthful wine in the glass. The nose is complex - an array of spices meld happily with quality toasty oak, muberries and plums. There's nothing shy about it, concentrated and ripe, yet balanced and demanding the next sip. Red raisins, cinnamon and those dark plums also return. It's a delicious young wine that will live for many years.
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.
Sympathetic winemaking contributes to the style of this shiraz. In the winery the gentle basket pressing is certainly a factor, resulting in a soft, generous and beautifully complete and rounded shiraz. Gravelly tannins and a light touch of oak are well managed. Has a beautifully soft and generous mouthfeel with length through to a long finish. Excellent
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.
