This is the story of Cabernet Sauvignon, the flagship red variety of Margaret River. The original Cabernet vines were introduced to Western Australia between 1836 and 1895, most likely from South Africa. In the 1930s legendary Houghton winemaker Jack Mann took cuttings from selectedold bush-vines in the Swan Valley and established a 1.6 hectare planting known as the
"Houghton Cabernet Block".
He was firmly of the view that grapes from this could be used to make outstanding wine. In the 1960's the Department of agriculture , through several years of evaluation, refined this block and selected the best quality vines, 21 in all from a planting of 2,200. These vines were planted in "foundation blocks" at GinGin in 1970 and at Frankland River in 1973. Over the next 40 years these vines were further evaluated and in 2012 six "super” selections were released.
We have chosen what we consider the best three cabernet selections to form the basis of this wine.
Hand picked, both bunch and berry sorted and fermented in open fermenters as whole berries prior to maturing in oak for 18 months.
