PEPPER TREE WINES SINGLE VINEYARD 'ELDERSLEE ROAD' CABERNET SAUVIGNON (2015)

2015 SINGLE VINEYARD 'ELDERSLEE ROAD' CABERNET SAUVIGNON 

The Elderslee Road vineyard is home to our best Cabernet. Elderslee Road runs along one of the ancient dunes or shorelines that make up the Wrattonbully landscape. These ancient dunes harbour the famed red "Terra Rossa" topsoil over free draining Gambier Limestone, perfectly suited to growing great Cabernet. 

Head Winemaker, Gwyn Olsen

Flavours of blackberry integrated perfectly with spicy French oak. A marvellously rich palate packed with sweet ripe berry fruits balanced by French oak. Fine ripe tannins provide great structure and depth to the long and generous palate. A full bodied Cabernet of distinction. 

Awards

2018 James Halliday Wine Companion (91 Points)

James Halliday Wine Companion Tasting Notes

Utterly remarkable: made in the same way as Block 21A, but is as different as chalk from cheese. Tannins waste no time in asserting control over the fruit, and hence, the mouthfeel. This thumps its way across and along the full-bodied palate, with blackcurrant, earth and far all here. 

Region

Wrattonbully, South Australia 

Vintage

The hot conditions that caused problems in other South Australia regions in January and early February did not affect the Limestone Coast and by the time the ripening season commenced the weather conditions were relatively benign. Ripening proceeded very slowly and all red varieties maintained very good acid levels right through until harvest and were picked with excellent chemical balance and beautiful fruit flavours. The last four vintages at Wrattonbully have been excellent and 2015 has continued the standard. 

Vineyard

Wrattonbully is located in the Limestone Coast wine zone. The prominent viticultural feature oft he area is the series of ancient beach ridges and dunes which run roughlynorth-south through the area. These ridges are made up of soft crumbly limestone which weathers to produce the red and brown Terra Rossa clay loam soils so highly prized for grape growing. The ridges and dunes have elevations of up to 30m compared with neighbouring regions to the south with Terra Roassa "high" of less than 5m. The extra elevation on the Wrattonbully dunes produce the advantage of cold air drainage which reduces the risk of frost during the growing season. 

Winemaking

Picked when acid and flavour are ripe, this is then destemmed and crushed into static fermenters. Fermented for 10 days using selected yeast strain and then pressed off skins into French oak for 18 months maturation. Barrels are then selected, blended and prepared for bottling.