1996 Lindemans St. George Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Notes sourced from Southcorp.

Fruit for this individual vineyard wine is sourced from the 12 hectare St George Vineyard which was re-planted in 1969 with specially selected Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings taken from the oldest and best clones of Cabernet in the district.In 1996 November and December proved to be the coldest months on record and from verasion onward, the summer months remained unusually cool. Fortunately, the grapes achieved sufficient ripeness and the Cabernet came in with a higher bunch count than usual. According to winemaker Greg Clayfield "Cabernet was without a doubt, the best performer in the Coonawarra for 1996," The wine was matured in new French oak hogsheads and barriques for 15 months. Dark purple-red colour. On the nose there are pronounced cedar and green-leaf Coonawana Cabernet fruit characters. The palate has full-bodied concentrated varietal Cabernet flavours with very good structure, length and soft tannins from extended skin contact, which nicely compliment the spicy fruit. Will gain further complexity with 5-8 years cellaring. 13% alcohol volume.