Hillcrest Vineyard Premium Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Saturday, Apr 28 2007
Tasting Notes and Australia and Yarra Valley and Wines of the Month and Tip Top Tipple and Variety and Red and cabernet et al
When Yarra cabernet is really good I think it’s the best wine the region produces. It does not happen very often but when it does it always makes me think (ouch). I can’t remember being quite so taken with a wine for ages. It is an absolute table lifter and I wasted no time in securing myself a six pack which is a far less painful experience than doing sit-ups and crunches.
Classic cabernet aromas of blackcurrant, dark cherry, cigar box, black olive, graphite and a hint of aniseed. On the palate medium to full bodied with flavours of black fruit, black olive, earth and fine pencilly oak. Beautifully ripe fruit, a mass of powdery fine grained tannin and clean fresh acidity form the perfect cabernet triangle. It rings clear and long with a sustained finish that hits exactly the right note. No noisy alcohol. No clumsy thudding oak. Just the wonderful sound of vintage, grape and site all coming together in perfect harmony.
Rated : 97 Points
Tasted : Apr07
Alcohol : 13.4%
Price : $50
Drink : 2007 - 2025
Source : Winery Sample
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33 Responses to “Hillcrest Vineyard Premium Cabernet Sauvignon 2005”
April 28th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Damn this is all my credit card needed a wine purchase that I hadnt planned on. After purchasing the premium Chard and Pinot how can I let this go:(
Garry; How long until the Premium Pinot 05 is released and have you tried it?
Jen
April 28th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Also; I agree with you that when Cabernet in the Yarra Valley is good its great indeed.
Heard something related to the Valley in general the other day. I spoke to a guy who drills for water all over Victoria and he told me the Valley has the worst water in Vic under the ground due to very very high salt
Hopefully they dont disturb that.
April 28th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I think 97 may upset some, but it had to be given it. I am stunned. I have not been the greatest rap for all the other Hillcrest cabs (so, i don’t think I’m biased at all, if anything, the other way). But I fell over with this.
I have never had a quintet, but in my mind. this is what I thought it would be.
Jenny, all the reds are available in June.( at some stage)
(Disclaimer: I am the Victorian distributor)
April 28th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Tasted this wine 3 times now and obviously I think it is something special. Previous Hillcrest cabs have ranged from fairly dire to pretty good - improving each year though it must be said..and then the great leap forward being the 2005. I have both had both 05 Pinots in the box for a few weeks now…better get cracking. Had those a couple of times too. Both outstanding. The 2006 wines look just as good (maybe better) for the reds. I understand there will be a 2006 Reserve Cabernet - above premium and estate.
GW
PS. I think the MM Quintet is usually a bit more ethereal and red fruited than this wine. A different style. That being said I would imagine the 05 MM will be a belter.
April 28th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Thanks for the info guys. Is this wine made by Keppel?
April 29th, 2007 at 12:09 am
oi, what are you doing putting the disclaimer in. I was just being honest you nong.:)
Jenny, it is made by Phillip Jones.
Enough from me.
April 29th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Gary
How is the wine sealed. Does it come in Diam?.
Also how much better is a 97 pointer over a 96 pointer. 1% or is the scale exponential at the high end??.
April 29th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Hello,
Cork only.
Hmmm well yes I suppose the quality curve starts rising very steeply in the 90’s. I have only gone 97 on the following Australian wines on Winorama
02 LEAS chard
04 Giaconda Shiraz
05 Hillcrest Premium Cabernet.
To be honest I was wavering on 96 or 97 but gave this the nod because I think it has something quite special.
GW
April 29th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Gary is it in the class of Voyager, Balnaves Tally, Moss Wood etc because the price is getting towards the range?
April 30th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Yes.
GW
April 30th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Interesting note Gary - thanks!
April 30th, 2007 at 10:28 am
It is a more Bordeaux like wine than you would expect. At risk of sounding like a tosser certainly more along the lines of a Northern Medoc in style.
GW
April 30th, 2007 at 11:46 am
But left bank is king
April 30th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
BTW, how long has Hillcrest being making a cab? Had not associated their name with cab variety.
Sanjay
April 30th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I have tasted back to 2001 and not associated their name with cab either - until now.
GW
April 30th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Are there Cab vines 30yo like Pinot and Chard?
April 30th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I believe so…nearly 40. I will find out.
GW
April 30th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
yeah I am sure they are.
There were a few (i think) merlot? vines grafted across to pinot back in 2000ish. And they were the same age, but that’s it.
Other than that, the front block was planted 7 or so years or so ago and non of the fruit has gone into any of the wines yet.
DCB has this non commercial method of not making estate wines until the vines are 10, and then show performance.
He did make a euro style rose off the front block of pinot this year which comes out by mail order in Spring. (only 20 or so cases made)
Side block was planted in the last year and a huge amount of plants were lost in the frost.
The Cabernet crops naturally at between 500 and 750kg per acre.
All the effort has been under the direction of Phillip to get the leaf numbers down due to the continued low cropping.
It’s taken 2 years to get there.
Both the estate and premium have only provided 40 cases each. And the vast majority is available via direct mail order.
Not sure what else I can add before beginning to make something up
Oh, and 100% new french Troncais medium toast oak for both cabernets.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Agreed that when Yarra Cab is good it can be really good. One only has to think of Yarra Yering. For something a little cheaper Whitsend Estate 04 Cab is excellent.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:50 am
The cabernet vines are 37 years old (same age as me i.e. peak maturity) with a few ‘younger’ vines at 25 years old.
GW
May 1st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
>>(same age as me i.e. peak maturity)
You mean it’s all downhill from here..?
JP
May 1st, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Well maybe a bit off peak…and then a plateau of perfection.
GW
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Can’t wait to see this wine. Hail 05 Yarra Cab
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:06 am
Hope you get some Anthony.
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:25 am
The standard cabernet is pretty smart too from memory. I’ll try and get that done before next week.
GW
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Had the ‘o5 premium at an extensive ‘Bordeaux varietial’ tasting on the week-end and it did not come up very well at all. Notes to follow shortly.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
That is probably not surprising. It is not that sort of wine.
GW
March 5th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Had a bottle of this tonight. One word of caution to others - make sure you give it plenty of air, it didn’t start showing its cards until it had been open (and decanted) about 3.5 hours. It opened up closed, but an odd kind of closed, without the telltale tannic acids you get in say a closed Barossa red. This may be to do with the climate and/or alcohol level, but I have no experience with Yarra cabs and didn’t know what was going on for a few hours.
I can’t do a full tasting note without the wine in front of me, but it had a very complex, subtle nose and elegant, supple palate. I can imagine JO liking this wine. It’s a nice drop but not 97 for my tastes - would rate it more like 93 or 94.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Had this tonight too, and thought it very compelling, 93 from me…excellent wine with everything in place.
Obvious conflict of interest in that I lend a certain karma to the vineyard from drinking at hillcrest regularly…
March 6th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Fair enough too. I think it was 94 points from Halliday (96 from Campbell). I like it exactly because it is so subtle, refined and savoury.
GW
March 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Does any one have any idea where I can grab this? I went to Randall’s (as per the Hillcrest website) in Albert Park after reading Gary’s recommendation, but their cupboards are bare….
March 12th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Only 40 cases made. I can account for nearly one of them but it seems WineStar still have it http://www.winestar.com.au/prod77.htm
GW
March 13th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Gary Walsh said :
Thanks Gary I’ll give them a try