2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River

94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. Aged for 20 months in French oak (16% new). Tasted blind. Bright ruby. Sweet oak perfume on the nose, with candied black fruit alongside. Opulent, intense but not heavy, there’s a featherweight touch to the tannins and the body. Persistent and pure, drinkable now but the peak is still a good few years away. (RH)

2022 was a warm, dry and early vintage in Margaret River, one that produced particularly great Cabernets in the region. Here, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon is tasted in context with Cabernets going back to the 1970s, and it represents the most recent Cabernet in the history of this estate. It has recently been reviewed, and the score stands true to the wine in the glass today. This is grainy and powerful, ripe and excellent, with fully resolved, pliable tannins and fresh, saline acidity. It's a wine for the future, although it drinks very well now.

Plush, perfumed aromas of red and black currants, black cherries, spices, graphite, purple flowers, crushed blackberries and violets. Finely tuned tannins and bright acidity lead into a midweight, fruit-driven palate with almost silky texture and no heaviness. Tightly wound with some early-drinking generosity and plenty of polish. 92% cabernet sauvignon, 4% petit verdot and 4% cabernet franc. Excellent. Drink or hold. Screw cap.