Fox Creek McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Now we are looking at Fox Creek’s bread and butter. Along with their terrific Shiraz wines, first class Cabernet is what many of us associate with this McLaren Vale winery. From a superb vintage for the region, the batches of fruit were each open fermented for around a week on skins with occasional pumpovers. Pressing was to a mix of tank and old oak barrels for a year’s maturation. This is brilliant value. An inky, dark purple. The nose suggests a wine of intensity, power and concentration. We have aromas of chocolate, tobacco leaves, blackfruits and a hint of campfire notes. Very good integration of that light touch of oak, while the palate sees the emergence of mocha and coffee grinds. Seamless and well-constructed, there is good length here and fine balance plus very fine tannins. This will drink well over the next decade, not bad for a wine at this price. Indeed, in ten years, if you have a case of this in the cellar, it will look like the steal of the year!