2023 Nocturne ‘SR’ Cabernets

This wine tastes of the future or at least a future that I want to be part of, one where medium bodied wines of great complexity and huge drinkability are the norm ….  Cabernets, simply put are just the most rewarding wines there are to drink.

Yallingup is our stomping ground and where the world’s greatest Cabernet and Cabernet Blends are being grown. Its deliciously warm but never hot, with the amazing dual influence of the Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay. In this SR6 Cabernets’ we have used our own beloved Sheoak Cabernet, Merlot from the Summus Vineyard and Malbec from the Robinson property that we are lucky enough to share the amazing valley with.

The 2023 vintage it is a thing…… Probably the most amazing thing about this mild largely dry season almost all varieties excelled.  Not too hot not too cold it was the Goldilocks of season where everything was just right. This allowed us to produce medium weighted effortless wines with the finest of tannin structures.

We commenced picking Sheoak Cabernet on the 16^th of April relatively late given the heat in the season.  Darkly coloured, quite tense for this vineyard it showed an abundance of ripe coco laden tannins from the outset. Instantly perfumed and richly coloured the wine spent 12 days on skins with a peak fermentation temperature of around 26 degrees C. The wine was pressed to tank and settled briefly, before being transferred to a combination of new (15%) and two & three-year-old barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked only once in this time and, after 14 months in oak, was emptied from barrel. At this juncture we decided the final makeup which is 47% Cabernet Sauvignon 43 % Merlot and 10% Malbec. These wines were then settled together clarified and bottled.

This expression of a cabernet blend is exactly how I envisage great luncheon claret to be, Epic drinkability yet huge complexity and verve. If Earnest Hemmingway was still alive he’d be pouring this in by the bucketful. A Cassis laden dream if you will, which is my absolute favourite Cabernet Blend yet. – Julian Langworthy