Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon, our iconic wine

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2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Warm, dry growing season and modest yields produced amongst the best examples of cabernet, much like the exceptional 1999 vintage in their opulence, varietal typicity and concentration.

Cape Mentelle has a rich history of exceptional quality and consistency with Cabernet Sauvignon from a pioneering producer in Margaret River in the early 1970's to a benchmark producer today. A single vineyard wine with the style evolving over time, the aim always to define a wine displaying classic varietal character and opulence, strong regional identity and with the structure and fruit intensity to improve with extended cellaring.

Appearance

Dark crimson with reddish hues.

Nose

Creamy blackcurrant, some raised bourbon soaked berries, chicory, toasted cedar and redwood bark.

Palate

Mouth filling and generous palate showing sweet warm molasses, toasted coffee beans, caramelised sugar with a mocha finish supported by chewy dusty tannins for a fine rich length.

Blend

100% cabernet sauvignon.

Cellaring

Drink now to 2030.

Food Pairing Notes

Dry aged Angus rib eye with salsa verde and bone marrow.

Show Technical Notes and Reviews

The Vineyard

Cape Mentelle’s Estate Vineyard was planted in 1970 and 1972 on a ridge of free draining lateritic gravel between the township of Margaret River and the rugged south western coastline. For over 30 years the best parcels of cabernet sauvignon have been carefully managed to produce grapes with full concentrated flavour and a firm yet fine tannin profile. The grapes are hand harvested and sorted to ensure the best possible expression of fruit character and structure each year.

The Season

2007 was one of the earliest recorded vintages in Margaret River. The season was marked by a warm, dry growing season and modest yields. Conditions such as this produce amongst the best examples of cabernet and cabernet merlot blends, much like the exceptional 1999 vintage in their opulence, varietal typicity and concentration.

Winemaking

After hand harvesting and sorting, destemming and light crushing, individual vineyard batches were fermented on skins for 25-30 days. At the desired balance of fruit and tannin extraction, each batch was gently basket pressed, with harder pressings kept aside. The individual parcels were racked to oak following pressing for malolactic fermentation. Regular rackings over an 18 month period ensured the individual wines were at their best prior to blending. The wines were matured in selected Bordeaux coopered barriques of which 40% were new with the balance being one year old. The final blend was completed in November 2008 and the wine was bottled the following month.

Analysis

14% alcohol, 6.17 g/l total acidity, 3.57pH.

Good Wine Guide 2011

Nick Stock

Another 2007 from Margaret River that will be remembered as one of the greatest Cape Mentelle cabernets of all time. Power and poise fused with conviction and stunning value when you look around the globe at comparative cabernet quality.

A much-anticipated vintage of this leading Margaret River cabernet, and not an ounce of disappointment.
With smells of bright cassis and juniper, fragrant and subtly floral, the cedary spicy oak adds a layer of class to this standout wine. The palate’s unthinkably poised: perfectly proportioned tannins carry deeply ripe, sweet fruit with impressive power and impeccable grace. Like an angel, this sits right at the top of the tree.

West Australian Wine Guide 2011

Ray Jordan

Class from the first attack on the nose through to the endless palate. Scented blackcurrant and red berry on the nose with a lively infusion of high quality French oak. The palate has meaty blackcurrant richness with a touch of tobacco leaf. It’s full-ripe and medium to full-bodied with wonderful elegance and poise.
Classy wine.

Weekend Australian

James Halliday

Cape Mentelle ... makes only 800 cases of this flagship wine from a strict selection of the oldest estate plantings of cabernet sauvignon. Clear crimson-purple, it has a fragrant and expressive bouquet, with blackcurrant, black olive, cedar and earth all intermingling on the long, medium- to full-bodied palate.

Australian Wine Annual 2011

Jeremy Oliver

Stylish, elegant and marginally herbaceous, this finely composed and dusty cabernet has a fragrance of cassis, dark plums and lightly smoky cedar/vanilla oak ... Firm but still supple and silky, it’s charmingly pliant and deeply flavoured, but despite its lingering core of classic small berry cabernet flavour, reveals an underlying thread of herbaceousness.

Langton's Classifications

2010

Classified Excellent

The Wine Advocate

Lisa Perotti-Brown

Very deep garnet-purple in color, this 2007 Cabernet has intense aromas of warm blackberries, cassis, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and dusty earth. Full bodied and rich in the mouth, it has a medium-firm level of fine tannins and a long finish.

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