2022 Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon

This pinnacle of the Howard Park red wine stable is now a 100% cabernet sauvignon off the Leston Vineyard in Margaret River. The result is a firmer and more classically Bordeaux styled wine with a distinctive Margaret River nuance. There is a lifted of bright red fruit on the nose with notes of violet and blackcurrant, merging with other lifts of cedar and spices. The structure is still quite taut with firm chalky tannins threading deep and long. The cedary oak sits comfortably within the concentrated and intense fruit weight on the palate. This is a wine of long-term ageing potential.

This one is Nic Bowen’s wine. Oak pulled back to 25% new and 30% second year use and the rest is three years old barrels. All Margaret River. Black tea leaves, tobacco, mint, lavender. Bright red fruit, currants, hints of raspberries and even blue fruit. Vanilla and hazelnut oak, sandy texture, lots of freshness, blue-fruited on the palate, lovely lightness but impactful flavour, with graphite tannins, still very fresh, stony and pure fruit finish.

Very good depth of red-purple colour; aromas of dried herbs, underbrush and savoury barrel-derived nuances, the wine is very intense, full-bodied, with concentrated fruit flavour infused with liberal oak. Good wine, very firm and a bit unready, but will certainly reward cellaring.

An impressive Abercrombie this vintage showcases all the varietal inputs – the cassis, the mulberries, licorice and nori plus the added extras – the judicious oak influence (30% new French barriques, aged 18 months) adding cedar and spice. It’s fuller bodied yet not weighty, with plentiful tannins yet textural and fine with some grip plus refreshing acidity keeping this composed.

Now predominantly the prized Block 29 of 1996 vines in the Leston Vineyard, this is a distinguished Margaret River cabernet of towering stature and enduring potential. Pinpoint accurate varietal and regional detail is expressed in blackcurrant fruit, accented with cigar box and tobacco leaf. A structural revelation, magnificent tannins simultaneously achieve mineral-fine texture and mouth-embracing endurance.