Nocturne Wines
Sub-Region Series
2023 Cabernets
Yallingup Sub-region
Winemaker’s notes
Nocturne cabernets
Highlights
  • Warm spice, dark plum. Tannins are as if suspended by air
  • 69% cabernet sauvignon, 21% merlot and 10% malbec
Sub-region
Yallingup
Reviews
  • Review - 94 points
    Red and black fruit, shag tobacco, dried flowers, a little mint and cocoa. It’s medium to full-bodied, but what I like about it is this earthy sort of ferrous character it has, along with juicy cherry and blackberry, acidity has a firm almost ‘minerally’ cut, and the finish is long, and pleasingly grainy and chewy. It’s a wine of interest and impact, and mainly, I just enjoy that it’s a pretty serious Cabernet for not a lot of money. Gary Walsh, The Wine Front.
  • Review - 93 points
    The final blend 69% cabernet sauvignon, 21% merlot and 10% malbec, and it feels light as much as a delight. Cassis, mulberries and baking spices plus licorice and a ferrous note. The palate is a tad fuller this vintage with raw silk tannins sashaying throughout. Best of all, ready to pour right now. Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion.
Winemaker’s notes
Previous Vintages
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2023
2022
2023
This wine tastes of the future or at least a future that I want to be part of, one where medium bodied wines of great complexity and huge drinkability are the norm …. Cabernets, simply put are just the most rewarding wines there are to drink. Yallingup is our stomping ground and where the world’s greatest Cabernet and Cabernet Blends are being grown. Its deliciously warm but never hot, with the amazing dual influence of the Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay. In this SR6 Cabernets’ we have used our own beloved Sheoak. Cabernet, Merlot from the Summus Vineyard and Malbec from the Robinson property that we are lucky enough to share the amazing valley with. The 2023 vintage it is a thing… Probably the most amazing thing about this mild largely dry season almost all varieties excelled. Not too hot not too cold it was the Goldilocks of season where everything was just right. This allowed us to produce medium weighted effortless wines with the finest of tannin structures. We commenced picking Sheoak Cabernet on the 16th of April relatively late given the heat in the season. Darkly coloured, quite tense for this vineyard it showed an abundance of ripe coco laden tannins from the outset. Instantly perfumed and richly coloured the wine spent 12 days on skins with a peak fermentation temperature of around 26 degrees C. The wine was pressed to tank and settled briefly, before being transferred to a combination of new (15%) and two & three-year-old barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked only once in this time and, after 14 months in oak, was emptied from barrel. At this juncture we decided the final makeup which is 47% Cabernet Sauvignon 43 % Merlot and 10% Malbec. These wines were then settled together clarified and bottled. This expression of a cabernet blend is exactly how I envisage great luncheon claret to be, Epic drinkability yet huge complexity and verve. If Earnest Hemmingway was still alive he’d be pouring this in by the bucketful. A Cassis laden dream if you will, which is my absolute favourite Cabernet Blend yet. – Julian Langworthy
2022
Ladies and Gentlemen... drum roll if you please, Cabernet is back, you know it you and can’t deny it .... Suggesting Cabernet is tannic and unyielding whilst sculling three-year-old Nebbiolo always left me a little bemused. The long and the short of it, Cabernet AKA “the Greatest Grape” is a vinous dream and some of the world best most accessible wines... Tannin it’s a thing and wonderful cerebral thing. Something to be celebrated and embraced. If ya wanna drink cordial, find some overpriced pinot and marvel at its lack of complexity. Yallingup is our stomping ground and where the world’s greatest Cabernet and Cabernet Blends are being grown! Its deliciously warm, but never hot, with the amazing dual influence of the Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay. In this SR5 Cabernets, we have used our own beloved Sheoak Cabernet and added some of our neighbour’s Merlot and Malbec from the Simpson
property that we are lucky enough to share the amazing valley with. The 2022 vintage is, whilst again having next to no fruit is a Cassis flavoured Cabernet Triumph. Warm early, but mild late in the season the best wines are on the powerful side for Margaret River, yet are things of great beauty early. In the Yallingup Hills we enjoyed a lovely We commenced picking Sheoak Cabernet on the 14th of April relatively late given the heat in the season. Darkly coloured, quite tense for this vineyard, it showed an abundance of ripe coco laden tannins from the outset. Instantly perfumed and richly coloured, the wine spent 12 days on skins with a peak fermentation temperature of around 26 degrees C. The wine was pressed to tank and settled briefly before being transferred to a combination of new (25%) and two & three-year-old barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked only once in this time and, after 14 months in oak, was emptied from barrel. At this juncture, we decided the final makeup, which is 69% Cabernet Sauvignon 31 % Merlot and 10% Malbec. These wines were then settled together clarified and bottled.

- Julian