A classic Clare Valley Red Wine – dark fruits, velvet, amazing length. 

Scored 95 Points by Halliday Wine Companion (Katrina Butler). Read the review.

Scored 94 Points by James Suckling. Read the review.

Scored 94 Points by The Winefront (Mike Bennie). Read the review.

Planted in 1998, this block of Cabernet Sauvignon in our Vivian vineyard sits just above the Sangiovese. The soil is classic terra rosa soil with red clay over limestone. 

Cabernet Malbec was the first red wine released under the Koerner brand, back in 2014. Inspired by the great Cabernet and Cabernet Malbec blends of Wendouree. Our style has been refined over the years and today it is predominately Cabernet Sauvignon, with a dash of Scaicarello for freshness. 

This block always produces small berries, intensely flavoured fruit with great tannin. While still a medium bodied wine, this is the most full-flavoured red we produce. The wine spent around 2 weeks on skins, was hand plunged and then matured for 18 months in thick staved French Demi Muids. It then spent 3 months in stainless steel before bottling in December 2023, with 60ppm total SO2 added and no fining or filtration. The wine has been bottle aged for 18 months before release in July 2025.

WINEMAKING NOTES

Varieties: 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Sciacarello

Vineyard: Vivian Vineyard 

Planted: 1998

Picking dates: 16 & 18 March 2022

Soil type: Red clay on limestone

Picking method: Hand harvested and sorted in vineyard

Processing: Destemmed, retaining whole berries with no whole bunch

Fermentation: Natural ferment in open top steel fermenters, hand plunged twice daily

Time on skins: 3 weeks

Pressing: Free run and pressings combined

Settling: Settled off gross lees for 7 days

Aging vessel: French Demi-muid for 12 months, then racked to steel for 2 months

Filtration and fining: no

Alc / pH / TA / SO2: 13.4% / 3.52 / 5.9 / 30F, 60T

Production: 260 dozen