form the foundation of Parker Estate’s First Growth Cabernet Sauvignon, yet technology and precision management amplify the character and fidelity of vineyard site. Vintage can take place approximately two weeks after picking commences at the northern end of Coonawarra. The extended growing season of 220–240 days highlights the reason why cabernet varieties perform so well in the region. The exceptional concentration, flavour, and tannin development are hallmarks of the region’s ultra-fine Cabernet wines. When the 1988 Parker Estate First Growth won praise in various forums, such as the 1991 Perth Show (Penfold Hyland Trophy) and London’s International Wine Challenge, it marked the beginning of a remarkable run of successes. Within the secondary wine market arena, the wine attracted significant attention from collectors and buyers. In the early 1990s, I would occasionally catch up with Sydney-based John Parker because he was a keen observer of our auctions at Langton’s. He told me that he named his wine ‘First Growth’ because it represented the best parcels of the vintage from the estate. This was clearly his translation of Grand Vin. But although we had arguments over this, the ambition behind the name has proven enduring. After John Parker died in 2002, the estate was acquired by the Rathbone family and then, in 2012, by the Hesketh family. Under all these guises, the Parker First Growth has performed very well, highlighting the quality of the vineyard and the respect given to the growing season and vintage conditions by the various winemakers behind the label, which include Chris Cameron, Pete Bissell, Phil Lehmann, and Andrew Hardy since 2019. There is an intriguing and impressive continuity that threads through the vintages. By dint of good fortune there are no marked changes in style. The growing season, varietal character and the vineyard site are the dominating features behind the wine. All the same, consistency has also been achieved through ruthless selection, or no selection at all. In challenging cooler vintages, where it has been difficult to achieve phenolic ripeness, First Growth Cabernet Sauvignon has not been made at all. These decisions expose ambitions for the wine to be something of genuine difference, its price reflective of the time, effort, skill and quality of the vintage.
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The Vintage Journal – Verticals
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