2019 Hazel's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Q: Vintage Notes

Vineyard: 100% Hazel's Vineyard. As McHenry Hohnen's southernmost and certified biodynamic vineyard, Hazel’s Vineyard is located near Witchcliffe in the headwaters of Chapman Brook. The site features free-draining ironstone gravel loam soils over a strong clay base, providing excellent drainage and promoting healthy vine growth. The vineyard's northerly aspect and exposure to cooling Southern Ocean influences contribute to the cultivation of a diverse range of varieties, including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Grenache, Petit Verdot, and Mataro. The 2019 vintage followed a cooler-than-average Spring and Summer, marked by higher rainfall and reduced solar exposure. It was a labour-intensive season where meticulous canopy management, timely picking decisions, and precise fruit sorting at harvest were critical to achieving quality. Smaller canopies across our dry-farmed vineyards, combined with regular leaf plucking, enabled us to harvest ripe, clean fruit. The whites display exceptional purity and vibrant natural acidity, while the reds reflect the benefits of a long, slow ripening period—showing elegant tannins and lifted aromatics.

$95.00

A purist’s Cabernet Sauvignon from a single gravelly block at Hazel’s Vineyard. Elegant, structured, and deeply expressive of southern Margaret River.

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon (100%)
Alcohol: 14%

2019 Hazel's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

$95.00

Tasting Notes

The 2019 vintage produced fragrant, finely structured Cabernet Sauvignon from Hazel’s Vineyard. This wine opens with lifted aromas of cassis, violets and black olive tapenade, layered with oak spice and warm earth undertones.

The palate is silky yet concentrated, showing mulberry compote, dark cocoa dust and graphite, all supported by a framework of firm but finely woven tannins. A benchmark example of southern Margaret River Cabernet—elegant, complex and age-worthy.

Vintage Notes

Vineyard: 100% Hazel's Vineyard. As McHenry Hohnen's southernmost and certified biodynamic vineyard, Hazel’s Vineyard is located near Witchcliffe in the headwaters of Chapman Brook. The site features free-draining ironstone gravel loam soils over a strong clay base, providing excellent drainage and promoting healthy vine growth. The vineyard's northerly aspect and exposure to cooling Southern Ocean influences contribute to the cultivation of a diverse range of varieties, including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Grenache, Petit Verdot, and Mataro.

The 2019 vintage followed a cooler-than-average Spring and Summer, marked by higher rainfall and reduced solar exposure. It was a labour-intensive season where meticulous canopy management, timely picking decisions, and precise fruit sorting at harvest were critical to achieving quality. Smaller canopies across our dry-farmed vineyards, combined with regular leaf plucking, enabled us to harvest ripe, clean fruit. The whites display exceptional purity and vibrant natural acidity, while the reds reflect the benefits of a long, slow ripening period—showing elegant tannins and lifted aromatics.

Winemaker Notes

Sourced from a small gravelly block within Hazel’s Vineyard, the fruit was harvested and gently transferred by gravity into four-tonne open stone
fermenters. Fermentation was driven by native yeasts indigenous to the site, with gentle extraction carried out over three weeks on skins. The wine was then
pressed to French oak barriques, 40% of which were new, and matured in our cool underground cellars for 16 months prior to bottling.

Reviews

97 Pts - Halliday Wine Companion
“Fermented in concrete, matured for 16 months in French oak (30% new). In recent blind tastings, the McHenry Hohnen Hazel's Vineyard Chardonnay and Cabernet have both come in the top 5 on my page, among eye-watering company: Château Lafite, Château Léoville Poyferré, Chevalier-Montrachet, Les Genevrières and others. The price, when you consider the ability to stand up alongside these wines is equal to but a penny, tuppence... graphite, cassis, mulberry, briny acidity and layers of exotic spice. This is a lush superstar wine, and let me tell you: if McHenry Hohnen isn't on your radar in Margaret River, you aren't doing it right.” Erin Larkin, August 2022

95 Pts - James Suckling
“This is an address on an inexorable rise, especially over the last few years. Sumptuous scents of blackcurrant, spruce and graphite, with a fleck of green olive, sage and mint at the tail. The tannins are nicely massaged without forfeiting their role as corset for the teeming fruit and salubrious extract. The oak, similarly positioned. An outstanding Margaret River cab, on the richer side of medium-bodied. Drinkable now, but best from 2025. From biodynamically grown grapes.” Ned Goodwin MW, 28 June 2023

94 Pts - Vinous
“The finely tuned 2019 single vineyard Hazel’s Cabernet Sauvignon from the cooler southern McHenry Hohnen vineyards offers up impressive detail and poise with layers of gravel, turned earth and blackcurrant aromas, topped with cedary complexity. More earthy, mineral tones emerge on the palate well supported by a rich vein of tannins and vibrant acidity through to a composed finish. It is a bit of a sleeper and will be prime condition after another decade in bottle.” Angus Hughson, 16 May 2024

93 Pts - The Real Review
“Tar, cassis and sweet spices on the nose. With air, lead pencil shavings and violets emerge. A cage of tannins contains the ripe core, unfurling slowly. This is a touch reticent in its showing and needs air if you want to drink it young. It will age beautifully.” Gabrielle Poy, 19 January 2024

2019 Hazel's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

2019 Hazel's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Reviews

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