Rockford 2017 Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon 750ml

This is classic Rockford - a medium to full bodied, harmonious Barossa Cabernet that weaves layers of complexity and interest into the glass. The tannins are medium, rather than firm and palate is earthy and savoury. While flavours flood the mouth this is not a big wine in the classic Barossa sense, and we applaud Rockford for this understated approach. This Rifle Range vintage can be approached now and over the next 20 years.   

-- winecraft.nz

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Cabernet Sauvignon has been planted in the Barossa since at least 1888. The warm climate here means Barossa Cabernet wines are rich and full-flavoured. The fruit for our Cabernet Sauvignon comes predominantly from vineyards along Rifle Range Road, just behind our winery. The ‘Biscay’ soil of the Rifle Range vineyards is heavy, black, cracking clay, lending the wine its rich and earthy character. It is a generous wine when young, but will really show its best if given a chance to mature in the bottle a little longer. Although the wine shows typical varietal and regional characteristics, it also has the Rockford philosophy at its core – a rich, soft and full flavoured wine made using traditional wine making techniques and attitudes. A dry winter and spring led to 2016 being an early vintage – the earliest in Rockford history. Dry-grown vineyards reflected the season with lighter crops and small berries, producing fruit with intense colour and rich concentration.

- Winemaker's Notes

Rockford is a small boutique wine producer based in South Australia's Barossa Valley. Founder and winemaker, Robert O'Callaghan belongs to a genre of visionary winemakers that include Max Schubert, Peter Lehmann, Jeffrey Grosset, Brian Croser and David Hohnen. His protégés include Chris Ringland and Dave Powell. Rockford wines have had a profound influence on winemaking philosophy and wine style in the Barossa. Providing the inspiration for a whole generation of winemakers 'the Rockford school' embraces the inherent qualities of old vine Shiraz: the physicality of winemaking where muscle and personal touch transform process into an art-form; the traditional tools of trade (basket press, open fermenter) and the complementary nuances of American and French oak maturation. Best known for their Basket Press Shiraz, Rockford also produces a handful of top-quality wines from old vine fruit sourced from selected growers across the Barossa Valley.