Cabernet as recognisable as Art Series Chardonnay. By the time Tim Lovett arrived on the scene there had been some major progress. The sinewy structure often seen in earlier vintages was no longer present. Better canopy management created dividends, with the ‘solarization’ giving the grapes more opulence and classical grainy tannins. The investment in optical sorting machines (first in 2011 and an improved version in 2022) plays an important role in delivering more consistent fruit quality. By removing stalks and MOG (matter other than grape), it is possible to remove excessive leafy characters. The newer machines go further by sorting individual berries and removing anything that looks under-ripe. This technology is used extensively in the Medoc and over the last 10 years has impacted massively on the quality of Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux reds. Many important producers elsewhere with aspirations to make exquisite claret styles have also followed suit. According to Tim Lovett, cabernet sauvignon ‘echoes and expresses its environment more
than any other grape variety’. Houghton Selection
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is also steeped in history, because it is based on the famed Houghton selection. The story of this vine stock material is fascinating. Although the Western Australian Department of Agriculture believes that it may have originated from South Africa, more likely it came from the east coast of Australia. There are two strands of evidence that suggest this, and both lines of enquiry bring its provenance tantalisingly close to Sir William Macarthur’s Camden Park Nurseries, southwest of Sydney, New South Wales. DNA testing could probably solve the mystery, but because of the phylloxera devastation at Camden in the 1870s and assumed transmission of vine stock material, there isn’t a truly watertight way to prove it. Even so, cabernet sauvignon was first brought out to Australia in 1837, some eight years after the first vine stock was sent over to the Swan River Colony’s new botanic gardens in 1829. But it wasn’t until the 1950s that Jack Mann of Houghton’s started to label his wines as cabernet. According to mythology he took cuttings from the “Frenchman’s Block” during the 1930s, but there is no record of where this vineyard was located, presumably in the Swan River. Like the Gingin clone, its serendipitous morphology
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The Vintage Journal – Great Estates Series
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