Yarra Valley Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Region
Yarra Valley
Appearance
Deep red with garnet edge
Bouquet
Fragrant, violets, lavender, leafy, perfumed, pure
Palate
Notes of red currants and earth, dense, pronounced, brooding and slightly savoury mid-palate, gentle drying finish.
Vintage Conditions
2008 saw timely December and January rainfall followed by warm dry days and cool nights. Harvest dates were earlier than usual with picking completed by mid March.
Winemaking
Fruit was sourced from from 3 estate vineyards planted in 1987, 1988 and 1991. Vines are cane pruned to 25 bunches per vine and shoot thinned at the 10 - 15 cm stage to18 bunches per vine. The fruit is hand picked into 8 kg buckets and transported to the winery. Bunches are destemmed, crushed and tipped into 14 tonne fermenters. The fruit undergoes natural fermentation, and once fermenting, is kept at a minimum of 25° C, and left on skins for ~20 days. The wine is then pressed, settled overnight and gravity filled to new and used casks where is matures at 16° C for 14 months. The wine is racked and gently aerated during aging every 3-4 months. This Cabernet Sauvignon is a traditional Yarra Valley style. It is very much a medium bodied wine, typical of the classic wines made famous by the early Yarra Valley pioneers. A luncheon claret !!!
Wine Analysis
Alc/Vol : 13.5 % pH : 3.52 TA : 6.2 g/L
Cellaring
Drink now or cellar over the the next 10 - 15 years in a good cellar
Suggested Cuisine
Try with dry aged Sirloin
General Characteristics
Dry Medium Bodied
89 Points
"Likely to evolve into a tobaccoey style, this herbaceous cabernet has a sweet scent of small red and black berries, cassis and redcurrants backed by cedary oak and a rather too vegetative, capsicum-like aspect. Long, fine-grained and elegant, with dusty nuances of green beans and snow pea beneath it's bright flavours of small black and red berries, it's tightly knit with cedar/vanilla oak and supported by faintly sappy, but fine and drying tannins."
Jeremy Oliver, The Australian Wine Annual 2012, October 2011
95 Points
"Clear red-purple; a fragrant cedary edge to the black fruits of the bouquet is followed by a supple, almost juicy, medium-bodied palate with superfine, but persistent, tannins and a touch of cigar box all adding complexity to an elegant wine."
James Halliday, Wine Companion 2012, August 2011
4/5 Stars
88 Points
"Very nice, if not especially varietal. Blackcurrant aromas herald a refined regional style, seamless layered long savoury palate. Needs food as a youngster."
Robert Geddes, Australian Wine Vintages 2012, August 2011
Best Reds
"A polished and supremely elegant cabernet. The nose shows more dominant red-berry characters with just a little minty, cedary influence.
The palate is silky smooth, with fine tannins and fine-grained oak building a platform for a long finish. Well made in every aspect."
, West Australian, July 2011
"Shows understated elegance and balance" - Mike
"Sweet berry flavours with well-integrated oak and good tannins" - Kate
Mike Bennie / Kate Kriven, National Liquor News, June 2010
Copyright 2008 De Bortoli Wines. All Rights Reserved.
