Cabernet Sauvignon - 2005

Hastwell & Lightfoot Cabernet Sauvignon

McLaren Vale, Australia

Tasting Note: 100% McLaren Vale fruit - Estate grown. 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc

COLOUR: Deep brick red with hints of purple hues

AROMA: A spicy mint forefront with nuances of subtle oak in the background.

PALATE: An abundance of concentrated berry spice fruit flavours with a hint of mint. Careful aging in selected American oak barriques has preserved the strong varietal fruit characters, yet produced a very complex, well integrated palate structure with underlying oak and long, firm tannin finish.

AWARDS

Gold medal - Adelaide Wine Show

Wine Background

 

Vineyard Site

Sand 350 to 600mm deep over clay. North side hills of McLaren Vale.

Planted

1988, 4 acre block

Trellis

Wide spaced double cordon, 900mm apart allowing good fruit spacing,

plenty of light and good air movement.

Irrigation

Drip @ 12 litres a vine every 4 days.

Season

Good winter & spring rains gave a good start to the growing season,

followed by a mainly moderate temperature summer lead us into

a good harvest season.

Harvest

Picked March 11 2005

14.9Be. 3.0 tonnes to the acre.

Winemaking

Fermented in 2 tonne open fermenters with heading down boards,

temperature controlled to 18 to 22 degrees. Ferment period 8 days.

Pressed out in a basket press.

Maturation

This was over 24 months with 6 rackings. American barriques were

used with a mix ofcooperages and age of barrels. New barrels were 25%,

the rest between 2 and 4 years old. The mix of cooperages creates greater

complexity through the variation in their toastingstyles and oak sources.

The varying age of wood ensures the wine is not wood dominated.

Bottled

June 27 2007

14.5% Alc. 3.37 pH, 7.1TA