This wine bursts with raspberry jelly crystal and sweet violet aromas. Ripe red berries, cherry plum fruit leather and hints of cassis saturate the palate with fine grained tannins creating a succulent, velvety mouth-feel. Subtle, leafy nuances typical of old vine Wilyabrup Cabernet and elegant French oak spice add layers of complexity creating a wine that evolves beautifully in the glass.
The 2017 growing season at Ashbrook was typified by warm sunny days and cool nights. A hail event in early Spring reduced the volume of the early varietals like Chardonnay but intensified characteristics. Once again disease pressure was minimal due to Ashbrook’s predominantly lyre trellis system. A bumper and lengthy Marri blossom meant Silver-eye bird damage was negligible for the earlier varietals however all nets were unrolled for the later varietals as it unfortunately didn’t carry through. All said and done the white varieties were harvested at optimum flavour ripeness. Yields were back to our traditional volumes but most importantly the quality was impeccable. The 2017 wines will have lower alcohol levels due to the lack of any heat waves before or during vintage so the result is wines with an elegance and fullness, magnificent!
