‘Draco’ Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Description

Dense, dark and foreboding on opening, the wine has a rich colour with dark fruits and toasted oak aroma’s lifting from the glass. There is an intensity and finesse which is instantly noticeable, the dark blackberry fruits, with mint chocolate and cigar box provide a very compelling invitation to delve further into this wine.

A concentrated symphony of black fruits, ripe plum and charred oak are all complimented with an impeccable balance of tannins, sweet fruit and acid which seem to coat the mouth and hold on well past the horizon. An impeccable balance of elements, set to improve over the next 20+ years.

The Draco was handpicked from our most prestigious Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard, ensuring only the highest quality bunches were selected. After destemming, the parcel was fermented in a small stainless steel open fermenter, with daily plunging and pump-overs allowing maximum extraction of colour and flavour.

Before reaching dryness, the wine was transferred to a selection of our finest French oak Barrique (225L) and Hogshead (300L) barrels. Maturing for 24 months, only a small selection of barrels were chosen for the final blend.

The final wine featured approximately 50% new oak.

96 Points
Winepilot, Ken Gargett
“This is the Nightfall flagship, their icon, the Dragon, a straight Coonawarra Cabernet. Just 1,200 bottles made. From vines planted around 1980, only the best bunches are included. Crushing, destemming, hand plunging twice daily, this has a week on skins and was then pressed directly to barrels where it matured for two years. A final barrel selection of the best eight barrels gave us the Dragon. An opaque magenta. The wine is immediately and quite obviously still very young. Good concentration at every level. Notes of aniseed, chocolate, vanillin oak well integrated, a hint of mint, dry herbs, tobacco leaves, blackcurrants and cassis. This is seamless throughout and maintains its intensity right through to a very long finish. Good balance and silky tannins. This really needs five years before you should even think about opening one, but will then drink superbly for the next decade to fifteen years, during which time, there is every reason to believe that the score will increase.”

96 Points
QWine Reviews, Steve Leszczynski
“This Nightfall Draco Cabernet is “something special”. I sat with this for some time and returned to it on a second and third day. Just wow! Layers of interest kept peeling off with absolute ease. This is a class act all the way.

Sure, you can suggest the price point calls for high scores but that isn’t always necessarily the case. The quality of this Cabernet speaks for itself, clearly the flagship of the Nightfall range.

With a mouthfeel that is quite extraordinary, this is a wine that just keeps raising the bar. Think licorice bullets, roasted peppers, choc mint and peppermint sage – an opening with plenty to digest. It moves to black tea and Dutch cocoa tannins that are drying and long. That scent of mintiness just seems endless and threads its way throughout. Seeing time in French oak for 24 months (50% new), vanilla and cedar rise up. The layers build with ease and absorb your attention as it continues to develop wonderfully over a few days. The hero is undoubtedly the blackcurrant fruit showing generous depth but without being heavy-handed. Long, moreish, it’s just a brilliant Cabernet! Drink to ten years+.”