Corymbia Calgardup Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

“The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon springs from a most glorious season in Western Australia (WA), and in particular, Margaret River. I judged at eight wine shows last season, six of which had classes of wines from Western Australia in 2023. It is my estimation that 2023 was a vintage that extracted the very best from every variety in every region in WA, and some of those classes—the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon classes at the Margaret River wine show, for example—numbered among the most pleasurable classes of wines that I have ever judged in over 50 wine shows.

So, to this wine. It’s is aromatic and leafy and layered with cassis, flaked milk chocolate, cracked peppercorns, nori sheets and mulberry. This has everything aromatically, but it is in the mouth where the tannins steal the show. This is elegant, finely milled, soft in its way—pliable and ductile, not ‘soft’—and so long through the finish. It’s a remarkable wine, made all the more remarkable by its élevage in a large-format old oak vat (1,600 liters), which allows the fruit and the natural tannins to really shine. It is 100% berry sorted and fermented and aged in old oak. This is the lowest pH Cabernet made from this Corymbia vineyard in Calgardup in Margaret River, and it is also the greatest. It is a statement and a pleasure. My emphatic advice is to find it if you can. 13.8% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.” 98 Points – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate