2024 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 varietal Cabernet and Cabernet blends are being grown. It’s deliciously warm but never hot, with the amazing dual influence of the Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay. In this SR7 Cabernets, we have used our own beloved Sheoak Cabernet, Merlot from Peccavi Vineyard and Malbec from the Robinson property, with which we’re lucky enough to share the amazing valley.

The 2024 vintage, as previously suggested, was tricky. From our POV, it was hot and dry, but the Cabernets from it are far from it. Accessibility would be the hallmark of the season for me; open weave, generous fruit, huge drinkability and appeal.

We started picking Sheoak Cabernet on 7^th April, relatively early for this vineyard, but that probably makes sense given the season’s heat. Darkly coloured and quite tense for this vineyard, it showed an abundance of ripe cocoa-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°C. The wine was then pressed to tank and settled briefly before being transferred to a combination of new (15%), two- and three-year-old barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked only once during this time and, after 14 months in oak, was emptied from barrel. At this juncture, we decided the final makeup which is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Malbec and 8% Merlot. These wines were then settled together, clarified and bottled.

Medium-bodied Cabernet and Cabernet blends are the future…. Ever were, always will be. Come on in, the water is cassis-flavoured and mighty fine. – Julian Langworthy