Howard Park Miamup Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Margaret River)

Margaret River is arguably Australia’s premier Cabernet Sauvignon grape growing region and Cabernet Sauvignon its greatest natural asset. Great Cabernet should be both perfumed and poised, and meticulous site selection is critical to capturing these key attributes.

In the cool and temperate climate of the South West of Western Australia, the winter of 2019 gave less than average rainfall, and an expectation that yields from the 2020 vintage would be low. As the earth gradually faced more to the sun, spring uncoiled its impulsive nature, followed by a temperate warm, dry summer - setting the stage for a promising outcome.

With veraison came the flowering of the native marri blossoms to avert the attention of our indigenous resident bird population away from the fruit. Such an event negates one annoyance at least. The middle autumnal period continued to be dry, with a mild to warm temperature which began to impact vintage in early March as all varieties readied for an early harvest. Our intake was regular and moderated with a good progression from early whites to late reds boasting dry, warm conditions throughout. 2020 is yet another vintage from Western Australia with little complaint as we empathised with our eastern state colleagues, so ravaged by wild fires.

In summary, the vintage is very good yet slow to show its true potential. Early varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay show good varietal purity, with subtle, lasting flavours and the later reds such as Shiraz show good depth of flavour, good perfume, fine tannin and poise.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are sourced from several select vineyard sites located in the Wilyabrup sub region and north to Wildwood Road in an endeavour to capture ripe fruit flavours, supple tannins and the distinctive perfume of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon.

The individual vineyard blocks are vinified separately. After fermentation on skins, the malolactic is conducted in tank prior to barrel maturation. Maturation occurs in French oak for 18 months. This length of time in oak allows for the thorough integration of oak and fruit tannins.