Singlefile The Philip Adrian Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Only made in exceptional vintages, Singlefile’s flagship red wine comes from the Riversdale vineyard planted in 1997 on deep gravel over clay soils on a north-south orientation. Forty percent matured in new Bordeaux barriques for fifteen months, with the balance going into one and two year old Bordeaux barriques for the same period. This is elegant and complex from the outset. Cedar wood yields to blood plum, warm earth, black currant, gentle clove, and a glimmer of pine mushroom. A shot of graphite minerality cuts through it all, too, adding to an already complex profile. These poised aromas masterfully meld fruit, earth and umami notes. Delicious. The palate holds similar class in its elegance, complexity and intensity, with the addition of immensely commanding tannin structure. A cooling mouthfeel wraps around black currant, black plum, black tea, mocha, earth, and graphite before a brace of intense gravelly mocha-laced tannins asserts itself on the fruit, pulling the palate long. This is elegant, though powerful and complex with structure to behold. A minimum of ten years is required in the cellar for this wine to show its true greatness.