Juniper Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Juniper Estate
Australia
Cabernet Sauvignon


Varietal:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Region:
Wilyabrup, Margaret River, Western Australia
Vintage:
2002

The colour is a deep, dense red while the nose has lovely cherry, red and blackcurrant fruit mingled with vanillin and cedary oak. The rich palate shows berry fruit, chocolate and savoury oak with firm fine tannin completing the structure that promises a long future. It is best to decant this wine in its youth for maximum enjoyment.

Winemaker's Notes
The mild weather during the 2002 vintage allowed slow ripening in the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, which shows in the resulting berry fruit characters in thewine. The concentration of fruit and ripe tannins that you expect from Wilyabrup grapes are there in balance with quality oak, culminating in a wine ready to be enjoyed now along with a cellaring potential of at least 10 years. This is our fourth release of the Juniper EstateCabernet Sauvignon.

Viticulture & Vinification
The cabernet sauvignon grapes were sourced from un-irrigated vines planted in 1973 from the Juniper Estate vineyard, one of the oldest in the Margaret River region. The cabernet sauvignon vines are all trained on the Scott Henry trellis system, designed to maximise tannin and flavour ripeness. The maturity of the vines and the training system are reflected in the rich, intense fruit flavours. The grapes were hand picked in several batches from the 30th March through to the 17th of April.

Once the grapes were de-stemmed and pumped into open fermenters the separate batches were treated differently. The first batch was pressed off at dryness after 10 days on skins producing a soft fruity wine, the second batch was pressed off at 2 Baume with the fermentation finishing in barrel which helps produce a silky mid palate, while the final batch had 28 days skin contact creating the backbone of the blend and insures longevity. The batches were blended and aged in French oak barriques for 20 months with 50% new oak. Bottled February 2004.