"Early season episodes of rain gave way to a fine and sunny April 1999 producing richly coloured and flavoured fruit in the premium grapegrowing areas of Western Australia. Extreme high quality batches of fruit were identified on the vine; two batches of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Great Southern and Margaret River with a small batch of Merlot from Pemberton. Each batch was treated separately with fermentation in small open vessels with extensive pumpovers aiding full flavour and texture extraction. The Cabernet Sauvignon was allowed to remain on skins for 20 days post fermentation to further develop the textural complexity of the wine. Both batches of Cabernet Sauvignon were put to 100% new French oak barriques, the Merlot was put to about 75% new oak with the balance being one year old wood. The wine was allowed to mature in our air-conditioned barrel hall for almost two years prior to final blending and bottling. No fining was required and only a course clean-up filtration performed.
The Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot is the result of the most stringent selection criteria all the way from the vineyard to the bottle, only the best and most balanced fruit was chosen at each successive selection step to continue the path to bottle.
The immediate impression on looking at the wine is one of youth; vibrant red colours with a dark heart indicate that the wine has good concentration. The nose confirms first impressions with concentrated aromas of dark chocolate and rich berry fruits with attractive cedary notes derived from the oak. The nose gives the impression of being tightly packed and yet to fully emerge, typical characteristics of a youthful wine. The palate has intense fruit characters with impressive soft but complex textural components. The wine has youthful freshness and lively fruitiness and is yet to develop secondary complexity.
Decanting and breathing of this wine is recommended in its youth."
Horward Park Wines
Country:
Australia
Region:
WA- Great Southern
Variety:
Wine Red - Cabernet blend
Size:
750mL
