VINEYARD REGION: Margaret River, WA

VINTAGE CONDITIONS: The 2009 vintage in Margaret River produced exceptional ripening conditions, resulting in richly flavoured wines with fantastic varietal intensity. Following the cool finish to 2008, the ripening months of January, February and March saw a series of prolonged periods of warm weather punctuated with short, cool, dry spells. This allowed for slow ripening which retained natural grape acids and produced great flavour concentration in all varieties.

GRAPE VARIETAL: Cabernet Sauvignon (80 percent); Merlot (15 percent)

VINIFICATION AND MATURATION: In the lead up to harvest in early April, the fruit in each vineyard block was tasted every third day to ensure it was picked at its optimum. The fruit was then gently destemmed and transferred to a fermenter where it was held cold for three-to-four days prior to fermentation. Following the cold soak period, each parcel was fermented at 20°-22°C for six-to-eight days with each ferment being thoroughly aerated every 12 hours along with seed removal early in fermentation. At completion of fermentation, each parcel was pressed separately to tank before being racked off yeast lees to barrel. The pressings parcel was included in the final wine to add structure and texture. A portion (30 percent) of the Cabernet was matured in new French oak barriques with the balance of the Cabernet and all of the Merlot being matured in one-to-three year old French oak barriques. The parcels in new oak were matured for 14-18 months with the parcels in older oak spending less than 12 months in barrel. The wine was then blended and matured in bottle prior to release.

Colour: Intense purple red with a vibrant purple rim

Aroma: Dark plum and blackcurrant notes with lifted aromas of violets

Palate: Concentrated palate of dark plum, blackcurrant and tobacco leaf framed by lifted notes of violets. Subtle cedar and dark chocolate characters imparted from time spent in French oak barriques adds lovely complexity to the final wine.