2020 Cabernet Merlot | 6 x 750ml

MIKE’S WINE NOTES:

Mike Davies – Co-founder Greenskin Wine, winemaker and wine packaging specialist.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, The King & Queen of Red grape Varieties, are the foundation of the greatness of Bordeaux. It is quite incredible that in 50 short years, Margaret River has emerged as a region that regularly produces this blend with quality that makes the fine vignerons of Bordeaux want to cry!

While the Cabernet provides the spine & structure of power, tannin and astringency, the Merlot fills in the gaps and lends softer juicier and supple characteristics, making them ideal blending partners.

The 2020 vintage in Margaret River was notable as it was one of the few Australian wine regions that wasn’t disrupted by significant rain, bushfires, or covid lockdowns. Not only that, the growing conditions leading up to vintage were close to ideal and harvest conditions were also very kind.

The 2020 Cabernet Merlot has been made by winemaker Severine Logan from Calneggia Family Vineyards is all that we wished for. It has lively fruit with excellent weight, length & grip. All the hallmarks of its’ regal ancestors.

• Colour: Vibrant red with purple hues
• Bouquet: Forest berries and earth. Cherries, roasted almonds with slight notes of mushroom, capsicum and liquorice.
• Palate: Medium weight with fleshy red and dark berries, savoury with slight aniseed hints completed by rounded cedary tannin grip.

HUON’S WINE NOTES:

Huon Hooke is a leading Australian wine writer, critic, educator and show judge, best known for his columns in Sydney Morning Herald Good Food and Good Weekend.

Deep colour with a faint residue of purple in the rim; there are tapenade, soy-sauce, olive paste and underlying blackberry/cedar cabernet aromas, the palate firm and solid, with masses of gripping tannins. There is an almost jammy note on the bouquet. The tannins are just a bit drying.

89/100 points. Bronze Medal Winner.

BRONZE MEDAL WINNER – WINE SHOW OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA:

SPECIAL NOTE RE: ‘BEST BEFORE’ DATE

Please note that this 2020 Cabernet Merlot has a ‘Best Before’ date of May 2024 on its label – here’s why:

As the pouches we selected have not been filled before in the Australian wine market, we could not decisively say when wine oxidisation/deterioration may commence.

Although not a mandatory requirement with wine, when filling this Cabernet Merlot, we decided to take the responsible approach and be over cautious and print a ‘Best Before’ date on the wine labels as 18 months (after the pouches had been filled) in the event that the wine started to oxidise/deteriorate.

However, with the continual monitoring of our wines, we have had no such problem and are now confident that 24 months and beyond is quite ok, and as we go, we will probably extend that even further.

Wine generally gets better with age (not worse), but all wines do have a tipping point (in glass or pouch) where they will oxidise and become less than desirable, which is why we are constantly lab testing and taste testing our wines.

We will NOT dispatch any wine that is in any way faulty/oxidised and are continually monitoring all of our wines, so rest assured the wine you receive will be drinking beautifully well beyond the date we (conservatively) printed on the label.

You can see more information on this, including the testing and monitoring we are doing through the link below or feel free to contact us anytime.

Click here for more info on Best-Before dates.