Clarendon Hills Sandown Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Planted in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale during the 1940’s the Sandown Cabernet Sauvignon site is populated by a rare pre-phylloxera Chateau Reynella Cabernet Sauvignon clone that expresses the ancient Blewitt Springs terroir with opulence and majesty. Low yielding vines produce a powerful yet refined and elegantly composed, classic Cabernet Sauvignon with notes of black currant, graphite, slate, earl grey tea, sage and bay leaf mixed with cedar shaving and baking spice with a roast meat undertone that gives the wine power and presence.

“Planted in the early 1940s, low-yield, small berries make for a cabernet that has a gently herbal edge with sage and roasting herbs, slate and graphite. Some blueberries and blackcurrants, too. The palate has powerful and intense, dark-berry flavors, carried on strapping, intense tannins. Big, powerful cabernet. So intense and long. Fresh, clear-cut finish. Impressive core power. Try from 2026.”

97/100 James Suckling.com