Hare’s Chase Cellar Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

A 100% cabernet from the Marananga sub-region, and a single vineyard with 30-year-old vines. Fermentation was in 5 tonne open top fermenters, with pumpovers twice daily, after which the wine was basket-pressed to a mix of French and American 300-litre hogsheads (half new, half seasoned) for 16 months. 

Barossa cabernet rarely gets the love and respect it deserves (think of Penfold’s Kalimna Block 42 as an example of just how stunning it can be), but wines like this should slowly make enough of an impression to alter that, in time. 

A deep, dark red. There are notes of chocolate and dry herbs, together with a hint of capsicum. Spices. This is a classic warm climate cabernet. There are attractive, though mostly upfront, flavours and if one were to level a criticism, it does fade slightly on the finish. But I suspect that most consumers are drinking a wine such as this for the pleasure of the flavours, rather than seeking technically correct structure. Towards the finish, some juicy dark fruit notes and a hint of liquorce. Pleasing drinking over the next 3-4 years.