VINTAGE

We had a very dry spring leading up to vintage 2016 and it was windy, too. We expect windy conditions in Willunga, but this was pretty intense. October and December were both pretty warm, whereas November was mild. Very healthy crops were recorded across all varieties in McLaren Vale. We had a huge downpour at the end of January a few days before the whites were due to be picked; this kind of weather event tends to give Joch a sense of tightening around the left chest area, neck and sometimes down the arm. However this 50mm downpour succeeded in refreshing the vines, giving us a few more days before picking and bringing the lawns back from the brink. February was mild with cool nights and March provided pretty good picking conditions, give or take a few warm days.

 

WINEMAKING

This is the 16th Cabernet we have made under the Bosworth label. We made the wine in the same way as have made previous vintages; picking when the grapes (and pips and tannins) are ripe, before crushing and fermenting in open tanks. The grapes are then transferred into oak barrels to finish ferment, with some racking and returning (pumping the wine out of the barrel and then back in) before maturing in the oak cask and then bottling. We use mainly older oak, with some new French hogsheads (300L) as well. We blend back a small Cabernet component from the White Boar (the grapes were cordon cut and vine dried) prior to bottling.

 

TASTING NOTES

McLaren Vale cabernet is often underrated, pushed into the shade by McLaren Vale’s better known and more widely planted variety, Shiraz. We make terrific Cabernets here at Bosworth – black and blue fruits on the nose, lovely classy oak mixed in amongst it all, with blackberry and blackcurrant on the palate with great length and texture and a fine tannin structure. 

 

Vegan Friendly

 

TECHNICAL DETAILS

VINEYARDS Chanticleer and Edgehill and a little from Denton's

PICKING DATE 29th Feb, 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 11th March 2016

ALC/VOL 14.5%

BOTTLING DATE 12th July 2017