Tasting Notes for Spring Seed 'Cockscomb' Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 from the Winery

The Cockscomb Cabernet Sauvignon shows classic varietal characters. It is a medium to full-bodied wine with considerable presence; ‘Cockscomb’ shows a lovely nose of red currants and blackberries and finishes with well-rounded tannins and length. 

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the Gods, we do make seem to make lovely cabernets here at Bosworth, and this Cockscomb is no exception. McLaren Vale makes great Cabernets, in fact – we always seem to get nice ripe tannins and herbal intrigue without the greenness  The nose is bright and fresh and bursting with blue fruits (violets and red currants ) and the wine has terrific tannins (without being too stiff) and a lovely, persistent finish. All in all a great example of a Cabernet.

Tasting Notes

Dark ruby red hue. A gorgeous nose of blackberry and bramble, along with dark berry fruit. Very varietal – it has super length and lovely, persistent tannins which frames the palate. Don’t re-invent the wheel! Serve with roast lamb.

91 Points from the Real Wine Review ‘Great bang for buck’ (#4 out of 22 2021 McLaren Vale Cabernets, Top Value Award and Top Ranking, recommended)

Good winter and early spring rains were followed by a generally dry and mild growing season. After the leaner vintages of 2019 and 2020 it was nice to see a return to long term average crop levels. We had a slow and steady ripening period without any excessive heat spikes which has resulted in super varietal fruit intensity and balanced natural acidity.

A Mary Poppins kind of vintage; practically perfect! Joch is always loathe to comment favourably about vintage quality,  for fear of jinxing things – he can be superstitious like that, but by the end of harvest, the word ‘exceptional’ was heard to come out of his mouth.

Winemaking

I describe the Cockscomb as the younger sibling of the Bosworth Cabernet. It is grown in the same vineyards and looked after just as well in the winery, but just spends less time in oak, and what oak we use tends to be older and so imparts less oak flavours to the wine. We make it in a very similar fashion to the Bosworth Cabernet, in that it is picked when ripe and full of lovely juicy Cab flavours, then de-stemmed and crushed and fermented in open vessels (some finishes ferment in oak). The oak regime is similar too, with mainly French with a dash of American (ie one barrel!). We do pump overs, too, just the same, where the fermenting juice is pumped over the ‘cap’ (the mass of skins which floats to the top during a ferment) to extract colour, flavour and tannin.  Generally Cockscomb is bottled in the same year as it was made and it is ready to be enjoyed pretty soon after that.

(SKU: SS_CAB_21)