2021 Sandalford Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
This is classic Margaret River Cabernet. An elegant, medium bodied wine, with sweet red and black berries, camphor, vanilla and savoury oak spice flavours. The fine-grained tannins are soft and in balance with the fruit and acid. There is a nice structure and softness to the wine which makes for appealing drinking in the immediate term. However, will reward cellaring over the next ten years.
Winemaker comments
Winemaker Notes
This Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from plantings dating back to 1970, off the original Sandalford vineyard located in Wilyabrup, Margaret River. The fruit was de-stemmed to small open and static fermenters before a selected yeast isolate was used to inoculate the must. Routine pump overs aided in extracting colour, flavour and tannin. After 10 days on skins, the wine was pressed to tank and inoculated for Malolactic Fermentation. The wine was racked and transferred to Bordeaux coopered French oak barriques (30% new) for 16 months maturation before blending. A small percentage of Malbec (4%) was included into the final blend to provide depth, interest and complexity. This wine was made without finings and was filtered before bottling.
Meet the maker
By the time I turned 18, I had become fascinated with wine. I was keen to learn as much about wine as I could and I received some great advice: to work in the industry before committing to any tertiary study....
Continue Reading > I was lucky enough to get my start at the cellars at Houghton Wines, here in the Swan Valley. I loved it, and it was the beginning of a career which was to eventually see me spend 20 years with Houghton’s. But first, I wanted to discover what traditional winemaking was like in the northern hemisphere. I took myself off to Burgundy, France, where I worked several vintages learning as much as I could about the craft of winemaking from some the best in the business. Returning to Australia I continued my career, picking up a few awards in the process of learning more and more about winemaking and achieving Bachelor of Applied Science and Oenology at Charles Sturt University, NSW. I was awarded the inaugural Gourmet Traveler Young Winemaker of the Year 2001, James Halliday’s Winemaker of the year in 2009, Winemaker of the Year in Ray Jordan's 2017 Annual West Australian Wine Guide, and I’ve judged extensively at capital city and regional wine shows. Australia makes some amazing world class wines! I’ve been fortunate to be Senior Winemaker at Sandalford Wines since March 2021 and I’m delighted every day by our estates’ old vines, the passion of the viticulture team here, and the outcomes we are able to achieve each vintage.
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Continue Reading > I was lucky enough to get my start at the cellars at Houghton Wines, here in the Swan Valley. I loved it, and it was the beginning of a career which was to eventually see me spend 20 years with Houghton’s. But first, I wanted to discover what traditional winemaking was like in the northern hemisphere. I took myself off to Burgundy, France, where I worked several vintages learning as much as I could about the craft of winemaking from some the best in the business. Returning to Australia I continued my career, picking up a few awards in the process of learning more and more about winemaking and achieving Bachelor of Applied Science and Oenology at Charles Sturt University, NSW. I was awarded the inaugural Gourmet Traveler Young Winemaker of the Year 2001, James Halliday’s Winemaker of the year in 2009, Winemaker of the Year in Ray Jordan's 2017 Annual West Australian Wine Guide, and I’ve judged extensively at capital city and regional wine shows. Australia makes some amazing world class wines! I’ve been fortunate to be Senior Winemaker at Sandalford Wines since March 2021 and I’m delighted every day by our estates’ old vines, the passion of the viticulture team here, and the outcomes we are able to achieve each vintage.
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Tasting notes
Varietals
Varietal
Cabernet Sauvignon
Colour
Other Notes
Deep garnet with brick red hues.
Nose
Production
Blackberry, cassis, fresh tobacco, cedar and chocolate box notes on the nose. There is an overlay of camphor and oak spice with floral violet notes adding complexity.
Palate
Tasting Note
This is classic Margaret River Cabernet. An elegant, medium bodied wine, with sweet red and black berries, camphor, vanilla and savoury oak spice flavours. The fine-grained tannins are soft and in balance with the fruit and acid. There is a nice structure and softness to the wine which makes for appealing drinking in the immediate term. However, will reward cellaring over the next ten years.
Vintage Conditions
Vineyard Notes
The 2021 vintage could be best described as challenging. A reflection of the wetter than average summer impacting picking decisions. Our Wilyabrup vineyard however fared well and produced fresh, bright, flavoursome fruit to make wines from. The low yielding old vine Cabernet Sauvignon produced a moderate crop and was machine harvested in the cool of the night before transportation to the winery for processing. The resulting red wines made this year are elegant in style displaying varietal typicity.
