L.A.S Vino Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Stuart McCloskey, tasted 7th October 2025 "It’s the meeting of all the elements that makes this wine so special. I love it for being so different and for being an honest portrayal of mother nature. This is unfettered and allowed to show its identity. The aromatics soar like a bird of prey on the updraft – effortless, but packed with violets, cassis, mulberries, raspberry, spice, bay leaf, lots of salt, mint, fresh cedar, and rounds off with a noticeable depth of iodine. I would love to assess the aromatics in 6-8-years’ time. The sample has been kept in my ‘cool’ pantry at home – I believe this to be the perfect temperature. The palate feel is very special indeed. Mid-weighted and utterly flawless. This is the embodiment of sophisticated Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon and certainly falls under the crown of regalness. Sublime and too special to partner with food. Simply, decant (for an hour), serve in either Zalto’s Bordeaux or Burgundy stemware, and settle down for the afternoon with a film or good book. This is very pretty and the flavours gracefully roll to raspberry, violets, briar, a crunch of cranberry along with a good chew of lead pencil and lift from fresh mint. This is long – the flavours drift on for minutes. The tannins, oak and acidity support the fruit and do not impose. Wonderfully effortless. Smitten in a word… Granted, I am wooing and cooing today, but another few years will add much more complexity. Drink now to 2033…"

THE VINEYARD

Working with a distinctive beautiful unkept vineyard in Yallingup. A certified organic and biodynamic site at the northern end of the cape. The vineyard is left to its own devices, unkept and unpruned. A vineyard with: no trellising, no chemicals, no pesticides, no fertiliser, no irrigation and no tilling. The vines sprawl everywhere; as pigs, geese, guineafowl and cows roam free. The site faces north with a little creek running through the middle of the vineyard. Native flowers and plants grow under the rows with no herbicides or pesticides sprayed. It is one of the only certified biodynamic vineyards in the region. This leads to cabernet fruit with intensity, flavour, concentration and power not often seen in Margaret River.

WINEMAKING

The fruit was hand picked and cooled, followed by bunch and berry sorting by hand. Leading to a black caviar appearance of fruit in the fermenters. The fruit was naturally fermented as whole berries in large format barriques for 30 days. Plunged by hand and left to ferment at ambient cellar temperature prior to pressings direct to same barrels in which it fermented. Matured in large format barrels for 16 months. With a small portion (10%) seeing new oak. The wine was then settled naturally in tank for two months prior to bottling with no fining and a light filtration.

TASTE

Dark rich fruits, mulberry, dark cherry and plum. An electric, eccentric and eclectic wine with a full gamut of notes to tickle the taste buds and stimulate the senses. A wine that can be put down and comes into its own by decanting The wine will age gracefully for 30 years if cellared correctly.