Magpie Hill Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
BLACKCURRANT • BRAMBLE • VIOLET
Sourced from the prized central hill of our estate, this wine has dark berry fruit with infinite length and structure and is built to beguile and age gracefully. 750 ml.
Accolades
94 points, Halliday Wine Companion
From a distinct plot in Duke's estate vineyard. This has good concentration, palate-staining resonance and a general sense of high drinkability. Scents of clove and pipe tobacco over cassis and lavender, the palate more fruit driven, plummy, but with brined black olive and more clove spice in play. Sits at medium weight, cruises along gently and feels almost refreshing in a way. Elegant and understated; very good are the words.
94 points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2021 Magpie Hill Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is from the same vineyard as the Single Vineyard Cabernet, but it is a step up in concentration of fruit and also oak. Here, there is dark chocolate and star anise to add to the core of delicate/pure black and purple fruit. This is a beautiful wine, slightly lower in alcohol than the Single Vineyard Cabernet, but more oomph and thrust of purpose. Really beautiful. Gently chewy. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
94 points, Wine Pilot
This is the last vintage that Duke Ranson picked. There is power and intensity coursing through every part of the wine. The tannins are firm but there is a deep core of fruit to balance. It’s medium to full bodied reflecting its cool climate origins, but there is power and poise. At the moment it’s quite closed but with a little time it will certainly reveal plenty more. The finish has a slightly chalky aspirin-like character to provide focus and direction.
92 points, The Real Review
Deep red-purple colour with a tobacco, humus, forest-floor bouquet which turns mellow and smoothly fleshy on the palate, with ample powdery tannins that provide some chew on the aftertaste. Cassis cabernet notes are elusive but there, buried deep. A savoury style of cabernet, ripe and good.
Halliday Top 5 Star Winery
Halliday defines top five-stars as "Outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity"
Appearance: dark deep magenta with ruby edges
Aroma: cassis, red and black currant, black cherry, dark chocolate, black truffle, coffee beans, forest floor brooding, intense violets and lavender, toasted oat, graphite
Palate: brooding elements of dark cherry, cassis, bright black currants, forest floor and bramble, savoury dark chocolate, and fire hearth; tannins are powerful yet finely structured giving great length and completeness; slight sappiness, raspberry cane, brooding an unfurling with cocoa powder; fleshy, fresh tobacco with hints of licorice; old school Bordeaux-like characters and complexity, built to age, with classic elegance and power
Deep winter rains were welcome relief after two drought seasons giving way to an earlier bud burst with a slow steady growth of canopy producing a wall of leaves to ripen a balanced crop. Rains in mid-February and early March necessitated canopy work to give good airflow and light penetration easing disease risk. Warm conditions with warm breezes concentrated the red fruit giving full physiological ripeness of tannin and colour but still with the trademark thread of minerality that gives longevity and freshness to all the wines from the estate.
Selectively harvested early morning in mid to late April, the fruit was cool when it arrived at the winery. It was destemmed into a closed top fermenter and allowed to cold soak naturally before the ferment was allowed to proceed, followed by gentle pumping over daily from 1-3 times. Some post-ferment maceration ensued for complexity and structure, building complete tannins with intense colours for a total of 19 days on skins; the skins were then pressed gently, creating a powerful retrained yet refined and complete wine.
Aged in 100% French oak (38% new, balance from 16, 18, 19) of 300L hogsheads, for 14 months on fine lees. The larger format vessel allowed better integration and retention of greater freshness. Blending occurred with no fining and minimal filtration. Bottled in August 2022, released March 2023.
- Vintage 2021
- Alcohol 12.1%
- Vineyard 100% Estate Grown
- Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
- Bottling date August 2022
- Country Australia
- Region Great Southern, Western Australia
- Sub-region Porongurup
- Residual sugar 0.45 g/l
- pH 2.85
- Acidity 8.8 g/l