2013 Woodlands Vineyard Benjamin - Special Limited Release

2013 is characterised by lush and exotic characters. Crops were low due to high winds at flowering, but the remainder of the growing season was warm, dry and consistent, letting us harvest at optimum ripeness.

Our Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from our original plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc found on our south-facing slope. The soil profile of this slope is generally sandy loam over gravel and clay. The top of the slope, where the Cabernet Franc is planted, has significantly more gravel in its soil.

These four small plots receive the greatest number of sunlight hours on our vineyard, but the east-west orientation of the vines ensures a slow fruit maturation. These are the last batches we harvest each year.

This wine was harvested between 21 March and 2 April, yielding 6.51 tonnes per hectare (or 45 hectolitres per hectare). After being picked, the fruit was destemmed before passing over our vibrating sorting table.

Once sorted and crushed, this wine was fermented in small closed fermenters. Following fermentation, the Cabernet Sauvignon must remained on skins for 35 days before being pressed for the secondary malolactic fermentation to occur. Afterwards, the wine was transferred into new French medium toast barrels to mature for 19 months.

This wine is a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc. 

The nose shows exotic aromas of star anise combined with lush berry fruits, with some toasty French oak influence in the background.

The palate opens very fine and balanced, revealing an array of brooding primary fruit characters over a mineral core. After opening up, given an hour or more, fleshy ripe mulberry and blackcurrant flavours emerge. The finish exhibits incredible tension and finesse of tannin.

Sumptuous and complex, our 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon will be best enjoyed from 2025 to 2042.