Plantagenet's Great Southern Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon from the Great Southern, and particularly the style that we make, is made up of a number of distinct characteristics. The fruit characters are made up of a strong earthy, minerally character which is unique to most Cabernet produced in Australia. This is backed up with red berry, red currant, cassis and mint in most years, and in cooler years there may be a slight herbal edge. The tannins are generally firm medium bodied and our wines do retain a lot of natural acidity due to the cooler climate and later harvest dates for Cabernet. This makes a wine that has the potential for ageing well in the 10 - 20 year bracket.

Picking and fermentation are generally similar to Shiraz except for different yeast strains which promote different fruit characters.

Post fermentation some batches are left on skins for up to 4 weeks which encourages a very fine and balanced tannin structure, and also helps to add texture and flesh to the final blend. Oak regime is approximately 40% new French Oak and the balance is older Oak, be it French or American. This is normally for 24 months.

Fining and filtering occurs as for the Shiraz.

We do try and get over 6 months bottle age on the Cabernet before release, to allow any tannic edge to dissipate and to make it more approachable on release.