By Andy Young
This September will see the inaugural release of the Evans and Tate Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, and winemaker Matthew Byrne said the wine is at "a different level".
The limited-release wine will be presented in a gold and black wine canister and carries a $100 RRP.
Byrne told TheShout that he knew there was something special about the 2012 vintage and so set out to create a very special wine.
“It’s on the back of six really good vintages,” Byrne said. “The ’12 vintage, and the ’13 as we’ve made the same wine, were picked as the outstanding vintages of those very good vintages. This is a single vineyard parcel from 1976 planted vines and one thing that really sets it apart is that the ’12 and ’13 vintages didn’t have the heat events that the previous vintages had. It’s a very structured wine, much more structured than our Redbrook and we’ve made it for the cellar as well.”
Byrne added that although the weather and the grapes give a strong indication of a special vintage, it was once the 2012 was on skins that he knew there was something exceptional about this wine.
“Sometimes there can be an element of doubt but with the ’12 as soon as it was on skins and we started getting a bit of extract and the flavour was there to match that extract, I knew,” Byrne told TheShout.
“Once you’ve made the decision to extend the time on skins you can’t turn back. By day 10 and the second week you’re building all those tannins up and you need to stay on there longer so you soften it out and get it right in the mid-palate. You get those extended maceration characters as well and that adds a lovely layer of savouriness to the wine as well.”
And in terms of why retailers should stock the wine he added: “It’s the impact of the wine once you taste it. You get clarity, the purity of Cabernet and the purity of Margaret River and the elevation into a very elite group of Cabernets.
“You could taste it against anything in the Australian Cabernet scene and the international Cabernet scene and it’s still going to have the wow factor there. It’s just at a different level, it really is an astonishing vintage really. It’s super exciting. The way it sits on the palate is unique.”
There will be 3426 bottles of the Evans & Tate Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 currently available online and from 1 October at good bottleshops nationally.