Chapel Hill 'McLaren Vale' Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Grape Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Growing Region: McLaren Vale, South - Australia
Winemakers: Michael Fragos & Bryn Richards
5 Stars ★★★★★
If you find yourself in South Australia and in particular McLaren Vale, ensure you make the effort to visit Chapel Hill Winery & Retreat - you will not be disappointed. The winery vines which sweep around the estate and retreat on the gentle slopes, were first planted in 1972 and are now well established and produce outstanding varietal fruit. The elevated vines have the ideal amount of sun hours, heat and cooling influences, with the coast located 10km’s away.
Michael and Bryn are crafting wines which display purity in regard to varietal typicity and site characters, wines that have a rich personality and a definite sense of place. This ripe Cabernet Sauvignon has an engaging mouth feel and texture as well as alluring complexity. Balance is key with Cabernet, as there are so many components all interwoven into the structure of the wine, then ultimately the wine will have the ability to age more gracefully.
The mantra with their winemaking is to achieve power and grace, harnessing the opulence that McLaren Vale is renowned for and incorporating style and poise.
As with all their red wines, as the fruit came into the winery it was handled gently with respectful winemaking. As the ripe parcels arrived at the winery, the team used bespoke open-fermenters, and then basket-pressed the juice and transferred into French hogsheads (with approximately 24% new oak) for 16 months. After tasting and blending - the finished wine had no filtration or fining with this wine delivering the purest expression of McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon.
• In your glass you will have a rich red colour with shining hue. On the nose you will be enticed by classic Cabernet aromas of blackcurrant, cassis, sage and a note of mint-chocolate. The palate is full and engaging with a solid core and palate structure. Packed with dark fruits, dried herbs, bitter cacao and black olive with complete entwined fine grained tannins. Already in its early development, this Cabernet is showing a poised personality and layers of varietal character. On the finish, which lingers for a considerable length you have a brilliant concentration of cassis berries with a lovely hint of French oak on a classic dry finish.
This 2018 Chapel Hill ‘McLaren Vale’ Cabernet Sauvignon has 14.5% Alc./vol. Medium decanting of 35-45 minutes and serve in an appropriate red wine glass at 16°- 18°C.
CELLARING POTENTIAL: *(Review 25/7/2020)
With decanting, approachable this season; plus will age nicely for another 7 - 8 years.
FOOD PAIRING SUGGESTIONS:
Perfect wine pairing with prime-cuts of red meats, slow cooked beef cheeks, rich pasta dishes with wine-jus, earthy rich sauced vegetarian dishes and aged hard cheeses - enjoy.
