2023 Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon

Right off the bat that this is the finest Abercrombie cabernet yet released. A few things have contributed to it. The great vintage for a start, the maturing vines on the Leston property at Margaret River, the continued refinement with oak use, including reduction in new oak and a real focus on achieving structure through the fermentation. It is a glorious statement of Margaret River cabernet. The colour is bright and lustrous, the aromas perfumed and alive, while the palate simply sings. Fine tannins and reduced French oak harness some simply glorious fruit.

Ideally, you’d pop this away for a year or so to shake off the rawness of youth and build complexity. Foundations are good though: cedary oak infusing the mulberries and cassis, fruit compote doused in woodsy spices, with some cooling menthol, too. Fuller bodied, with persuasive tannins and refreshing acidity. To see it at its best today, match to hearty fare.

The 2023 Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon shows its class from start to finish. It opens with beautifully poised aromas of cassis, graphite and violets with superb new oak integration. There is a confidence and understated power at first with even ripeness before flavours start to build. The tannins are immaculate providing a firm yet fine backbone which holds its shape through to a singular finish of extreme length. A classic in the making.

Dark red, youthful and opaque in the glass. Opulent aromas of cassis, mulberry, dark cherry, bramble, spice, mulchy earth and cedar. Firm, structured and mouth-filling with a core of dark fruits, briar and nutty oak. There’s real tannin presence and shape, along with snappy acidity, all delivering impressive texture, length and poise.

Stands tall, statuesque even. Captures the essence of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon so well in a vintage that has been heralded as exceptional. A meticulously crafted wine intense in aromas of crushed herbs, violet, liquorice, spice, black fruits and Aussie bush. The palate is built on a core of fine-edged, ripe tannins cloaked in purple-berry fruit flavours, leaves, roasting herbs, gentle cedary oak and enduring spice.  The wine is a result of a blending of batches of fruit, each batch matured separately in French oak. Rolls out in impeccably elegant fashion. Superb wine. Will cellar magnificently.

There’s an elegance to the fruit here, framed by a strong architectural structure. A sweet plume of mulberry opens the aromatics, quickly joined by bay leaf, plum, crushed violet, forest cake, and a building layer of graphite. A good swirl releases gravel and petrichor notes that add complexity and intrigue, while dusty cedar simmers beneath throughout. As these elements coalesce, the wine’s class becomes clear. The palate delivers power, quickly restrained by firm tannin structure – mulberry, blackcurrant, and plum coil within stacked, grainy, mocha-laced tannins, leading to a long finish. It’s currently febrile and nervy, clearly a wine built for long-term cellaring. But the bones are brilliant.

Immediate charm and elegance across the board. Raspberry, cherry, box of dark chocolate pralines, violet pastille, leather and herbs emerge, think Cabernet’s signature like bay leaf and sage. Blackcurranty acidity tickles in the finish, with iodine tension sending a minerally-charged wave from start to end. Oak is so well managed, tucked away, all in balance. The flavour has texture to it and probably needs a hot minute to settle, but it’s a beautiful, complete Cabernet expression right here, and almost right now.

Deep crimson. Lovely blackberry/ cassis/ dark plum aromas with praline, herb notes. Inky deep with blackcurrant pastille, dark plum fruits, persistent chocolaty/ graphite textures, underlying roasted chestnut notes. Finishes slinky firm and minerally. Very good density, definition and flow, Drink 2028 – 2040.

Leathery, tobacco and black cherry and a mint-leaf note to finish. Grippy tannins that need time.

The 2023 vintage sees the 34th release of Howard Park’s flagship Cabernet, named after Jeff Burch’s great grandfather, Walter Abercrombie. To be honest, I’m not sure they’ve made a better one in all that time. This wine sits comfortably with the very best Cabernets from Margaret River. A wine of balance, exceptional length, impressive structure and deceptive power, this will be drinking superbly for many years to come. An opaque magenta hue with a purple rim, the use of quality oak and its first-class integration makes an immediate impression. The wine exhibits all the power and intensity of the Leston Cabernet, but with extra refinement. On the nose, we have notes of plums and chocolate with tobacco leaves, mulberries, graphite, black cherries, smoked meats and dried herbs. Elegance meets power. This is beautifully balanced and well-focused, with the intensity maintained on the very long finish through to the silkiest of tannins. But strip away any artifice here, and it is the gorgeous fruit which carries the day. Enjoy this over the next fifteen to twenty years.