Stonehaven Stepping Stone Cabernet 2020
- 90
- $20
- Drink by: 2022-2027
Share
Picked from the estate’s twenty-year-old vineyards, the grapes were allowed to ripen late to increase flavour. After sorting, there was gentle crushing, small batch fermentation and ‘gentle cap management’. The wine saw ten days skin contact with 30% of it maturing in French oak. Dark red in colour, this has some herbal, green leaf notes, so often seen in Cabernet. It also has notes of black fruits, black olives and bitter chocolate. Good varietal Cab characters. This is a little more structured and austere than the Merlot, with slightly firmer tannins. Good length here with a future of at least four to five years. Whether you prefer the Merlot or this Cabernet is going to come down to personal preference. Both are well made enjoyable wines and both represent excellent value.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
