2004 Cabernet Sauvignon - Climate and aged vines make a special blend
Royal Adelaide Wine Show Dozen
While the Lloyd family from Coriole Wines at McLaren Vale is renowned for its shiraz and Italian wine varietals, it is less well known for its cabernet sauvignon.
But, in those years when it does make the latter, the result is generally something pretty special.
The Coriole Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 was no exception, winning a gold medal in the commercial cabernet sauvignon class of 186 wines at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show.
Only the Wayne Thomas Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 and the Majella Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 were able to stand alongside it.
"I've always been a big supporter of cabernet in McLaren Vale, I think we grow fabulous cabernet", Coriole chief winemaker Grant Harrison said.
He regards it as one of the best cabernets Coriole has produced with really voluptuous up front and nice cabernet cassis. Mr Harrison puts its success down to the excellent climatic conditions in McLaren Vale in 2004. He said the vines benefitted from being a minimum of 35 years old and coming from preclonal planting material.
"We're also quite proud of our traditional winemaking techniques with small lot fermentation in open fermenters", Mr Harrison said.
We're quite proud of the fact that we hold on to this tradition because we believe it gives us very good results. We focus on growing varieties and making wines that suit the soil types and climate of McLaren Vale, as opposed to making wines that are the flavour of the month". He said the family-owned wine company was continuing to grow by producing small volumes of handcrafted wines with production up to 35,000 cases a year.
The Wine: Coriole Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Winemaker: Grant Harrison
Retail price: $25
Adelaide Wine Show: Gold Medal
Nigel Austin
