2023 Howard Park A.S.W Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz

This wine was introduced to the portfolio a few years ago and is quite a departure from the usual Howard Park style. Primarily, it is the use of a significant portion of American oak to produce a distinctive style. Little wonder that this vintage is probably the best, as it strikes a great balance between the exquisite fruit and the sweet vanilla notes of the oak. Loads of blackcurrant and ripe satsuma plum with a little glazed cherry adding further complexity. The final addition of French oak adds the polish and finish to what is a very good wine.

The two varieties are aged separately in French oak for 18 months, blended then popped into American oak for two months. Why bother with the latter? Something I’ll follow up on. Either way, the lovely ’23 season has not been dampened by overt oak flavour as pristine fruit comes out, delicately spiced, with plenty of savoury inputs in nori, tapenade and ironstone. For such a youthful red, this is vibrant but also composed, the tannins exceptional. The length lingers and, while tempting to drink this now, more time in bottle will add more complexity.

Aromas of ripe plums, black cherries, blackcurrants, licorice, spices and red peppercorns. The palate is full-bodied with a generous texture and firmly framed tannins, showing layers of compact fruit with plenty of structure and complexity.

Dense ruby with purple at the rim. Blackcurrant, cedar shavings and tomato leaf aromas. A powerful and weighty palate with ripe black fruits layered with cedar wood, tobacco and a dusty earth note. Great length; for its youth the tannins are particularly well resolved but still ensure grip and drive to the long, drying finish

Blackcurrant, vanilla bean, and ripe plum lead the charge, soon followed by graphite and violet notes that elegantly foil the fruit. Brown spice and emerging earthy nuances add further complexity, while cedar and spearmint gradually unfold with time in the glass. The palate opens with a good sluice of sweet plum and blackberry fruit upfront, before grainy tannins assert themselves to provide structure and drive. There’s a purity and elegance to the fruit, firmly supported by the tannic frame. This wine needs some aeration to fully come together, but it’s a solid release.

A.S.W. offers a departure from its usual wine philosophy with grapes sourced from across the Margaret River region rather than the Leston Vineyard, one of its past sources. It continues to be matured in French oak with some “significant” use of American oak. It works a treat, producing a particularly stylish and approachable Cab-Shiraz in 2023. So easy to enjoy right now – and I did! – in all of its black fruited, plummy, sweetly spiced goodness. Cabernet Sauvignon (61%) takes the lead role and brings a subtle background mix of light herbals, earth notes, and is paired well with a smooth, harmonious tannin structure. Oak presence doesn’t seem quite as much a feature here as in previous vintages, allowing the fruit a little more of a moment to show its class. But, while we might note the generosity of fruit, it remains well structured. Some things don’t change.

It’s a style, with richness no less; it’s sweet-scented, leading with liquorice, sugar almond, dark chocolate Jaffa and a full baking spice cabinet. If you’re into the rich style, with sweet nutty oak, and solid ripe fruit, it’s gonna rub you all the right ways. Given it’s of that full-flavoured style, it manages to be elegantly put together with intensity of flavour and good finish. The tannins are sandy, the acidity vibrating, all backed by quality fruit. No problems.

Deep crimson. Roasted coffee, blackberry, dark chocolate, liquorice aromas. Inky and fruit sweet with ample roasted coffee, blackberry, aniseed flavours, loose knit grainy textures, a core of fruit sweet notes. Finishes chocolaty and minerally. A touch muscular. American oak-matured.

Sweet oak, plummy, lots of juicy fruit. Tannins just give a little hug on the finish. Deliciously fruit-driven with an underlying Cabernet structure. Full and round and classically Australian.