2018 Cabernet Sauvignon
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“A powerful expression of Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon.”
Cape Mentelle has a rich history of exceptional quality and consistency with Cabernet Sauvignon, from a pioneering producer in Margaret River in the early 1970s to a benchmark winery today.
Our Cabernet Sauvignon is the culmination of an intensely detailed approach to our vineyards and grape selection. From our vigour and soil mapping techniques to the identification of select parcels and hand-harvesting bunch by bunch, we ensure gentle handling through every stage of production.
Nose
A powerful nose of dark plum, purple flowers and black tea layered with toasty oak and gamey elements.
Palate
A full-bodied wine with intense blue and black berry preserves on entry, followed by tobacco, savoury and gamey layers, all framed by firm, ripe tannins creating a complex wine of length.
Blend
87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 5% Merlot.
Cellaring
10+ years.
Food Pairing Notes
Slow cooked beef cheeks or Moroccan eggplant tagine.
The Vineyard
This fruit comes from our most iconic plantings within our Trinders and Wallcliffe vineyards, with some of these vines being planted as early as 1970. The vineyard soils are geologically ancient - rich sandy loams with a high percentage of ironstone mottled through clay. Careful canopy management ensured well exposed and positioned fruit, ensuring an environment for fine tannin development, at modest ripeness levels with beautiful balanced acids.
Winemaking
After destemming, the selected vineyard batches are lightly crushed to a combination of wooden vats and closed and open top fermenters. The ferments proceed with wild and selected yeasts and operations are decided day by day, on tasting, without recipe. Post fermentation macerations are long - up to 65 days. At the desired balance of fruit and tannin extraction each batch is gently basket pressed then racked to barrel to complete malolactic fermentation. The wines are matured on fine lees for 18 months in 80% new oak - predominantly French barriques. The final blend remains unfined and is filtered before being Estate bottled.
Analysis
14.5% alcohol, 5.94 g/l total acidity, 3.7 pH