Purple Hands Planta Circa Ancestor Vine Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

97 Points Mark Malouf
96 Points & Top Value Mike Bennie, Winefront

Zerk Vineyard, Lyndoch. Circa 1880 PF Zimmerman planted 468 Cabernet Sauvignon vines on his family property ‘Woodlands’ situated on the outskirts of Lyndoch. We believe this to be one of the oldest bearing plantings of this variety in Australia and we feel privileged to be the custodians of this special part of the Barossa.

The fruit was picked on the 6 March 2018. The wine fermented in an open fermenter with indigenous yeast allowed to conduct fermentation. Temperatures were allowed to reach 28C with gentle hand plunging performed 3-4 times daily. After 12 days on skins, the fruit was basket pressed and transferred to 300 ltr oak barrels (50% new French oak with balance into 2, 3 & 4 year old French oak hogsheads) to undergo malo-lactic fermentation. Once malo was complete SO2 was added to the barrels, the wine was then left on lees to mature for 6 months before racking. The wine was then transferred back to the same oak and matured for another 9 months. No finning was used and only a very coarse filtration was used prior to bottle.

“A level for Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon i’ve not yet experienced, until now! Made by Craig Stansborough and Mark Slade, this wine is comprised of grapes grown on the oldest Cabernet vines in Australia, planted somewhere in the vicinity of 1880, and it shows! This is a seriously special bottle and delivers a finely layered, complexed and effortlessly balanced wine of measured intensity that is very approachable in its youth, but has the structure to see it sing over the next decade or longer. The nose is a fantastical, pretty forest scene and the palate is all class with silky textures, fine tannins and generosity of flavour. It is definitely a rich Barossan red, but it is an elegantly tamed one that shows impeccable fruit and respectful winemaking that allows that fruit to shine. A significant release from Purple Hands Wines and it’s pretty much as good as Barossa Cabernet can be.” – 97 Points Mark Malouf, wineworthwritingabout.

“It’s a wine wholly unto itself, powerful yet svelte, concentrated and deep yet lifted on sheets of fine, bulging, grippy tannin and cool acidity. It’s so seamless, flows beautifully, a gilded freight train of cabernet heft and engineering with grace and glide on its side. Scents of mulberry, truffles, bouquet garni, old fire pit and old spice cupboard, but no labouring under oak or syrupy fruit, everything just so and formidably balanced. Flavours marry a similar array of words. It’s a righteous, outstanding cabernet from the Barossa that leaves me scratching my head and rubbing my belly. Righteous.” – 96 Points & Top Value Mike Bennie, Winefront.