Passing Clouds The Angel Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Bendigo)

Passing Clouds was the name co-founders Graeme Leith and Sue Mackinnon gave to their small family owned winery when in 1974 having tirelessly hand planted their central Victorian Bendigo vineyard, were hoping for rain. Rain clouds would come, threaten and pass, and on old gold diggings and a deserted creek bed, they planted Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

At Present, Graeme’s son Cameron is the winemaker since taking over in 2008 and is making wines that are true to the heritage and unique style of Passing Clouds whilst having a heavy focus on the vineyards to enhance terroir expression. In 2010 he completed his Masters in Wine Technology and Viticulture.

Passing Clouds still makes all of their acclaimed Bendigo reds, but now also has an emphasis on cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sourced from their new home in the Macedon Ranges.

The fruit for the 2020 Passing Clouds The Angel is 100% de-stemmed and hand-sorted before being traditionally vinified in open stainless-steel fermenters, which are hand plunged twice a day. A portion of batches saw post ferment maceration. All batches are matured in 100% French oak for 11 months. The Cabernet and Shiraz parcels are then assessed, and the optimum blend identified. The wine received a coarse filtration prior to bottling.

Passing Clouds The Angel is a selection of the wineries finest, most elegant Cabernet Sauvignon barrels each year. Once selected, the barrels are aged for an additional 5 months, after bottling 12 months of bottle maturation occur to allow for some development, in a wine that regularly shows well at 20 years of age the resultant wine is a sophisticated and extremely age-worthy expression of a cooler climate Cabernet Sauvignon. Winery Notes