2013 Vasse Felix, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Australia
Critics reviews
Joe Czerwinski - 29/12/2017
About this WINE
Vasse Felix
Vasse Felix was the first commercial wine estate in Margaret River and produces wines of award-winning quality to this day.
The estate was established in 1967 by Dr. Thomas Cullity, a cardiologist with a love of European wines. Following the advice of expert viticulturalists, he planted vines across 8 hectares in Wilyabrup, which remains to this day the heart of the Vasse Felix estate.
Winemaker Virginia Willcock joined the Vasse Felix team in 2006, and her skill has helped propel the estate to even greater levels of quality and renown. Her team focus largely on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, and aim to capture the essence of Margaret River’s unique environment and climate.
All fruit at Vasse Felix is harvested, fermented and matured in small parcels. The resulting wines are outstanding: vibrant and delicious, and exemplary representations of each Margaret River vintage.
Margaret River
Located on the most south-westerly point of Australia, three hours’ drive south of Perth, the Margaret River region sprang to life during the 1960s and 1970s as a result of Professor Harold Olmo’s and Dr John Gladstone’s research into the region’s viticultural potential. Consequently Vasse Felix was planted in 1967, Moss Wood in 1970 and Cullen in 1971. Since then the plantings have grown exponentially, while the number of wineries has increased six-fold. This explosion of wineries has perhaps been to the detriment of the wine quality.
Bounded to the west by the Indian Ocean and the 90km Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin promontory, the region enjoys a benign if damp maritime climate in which the vines rarely shut down, causing disrupted flowering (exacerbated by strong, westerly sea winds). Over the growing season it’s 16 percent hotter than in Coonawarra and 7% than the Médoc.
The Cape ridge is made up of lateritic clay topsoils over weathered granite and gneiss, giving fruit with a relatively high pH. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most fancied variety,producing a lush, early drinking style, followed by Shiraz, Chardonnay and Sémillon.
Recommended Producers: Cullen, McHenry Hohnen Vintners, Moss Wood, Cape Mentelle and Voyager Estate.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.
It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins. Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.
The grape is widely planted in California where Cabernet Sauvignon based wines are distinguished by their rich mixture of cassis, mint, eucalyptus and vanilla oak. It is planted across Australia and with particular success in Coonawarra where it is suited to the famed Terra Rossa soil. In Italy barrique aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a key component in Super Tuscans such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, either on its own or as part of a blend with Sangiovese.
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Description
Vasse Felix's 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is an immediately attractive, approachable wine yet shows sufficient structure to age through 2025. Ripe, supple tannins and crisp acids provide just enough structure to support the wine's ample cassis fruit. Hints of bay leaf and vanilla provide complexity that lingers through the plush finish.
Joe Czerwinski - 29/12/2017
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