Description / Reviews
"The 2024 vintage was not a thing. This wine, however, is. Coastal vineyards are a thing, especially when the other thing is the hottest season ever. This is where my confusion lies: in seasons when you can wait and pause and assess the grapes for perfect tannin ripeness, that’s when you know you have something special going on. Not too hot, not too cold, it was the Goldilocks of seasons where everything was just right. In this instance, from what I see as the best part of the Sheoak vineyard slope, we have made an effortless wine with the finest of tannin structures.
Sheoak Cabernet is darkly coloured, though wonderfully fine and ethereal from the outset. The wine spent 14 days on skins and transferred to a combination of oak; 25% new, two- and three-year-old barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation. Matured for 16 months, only the best barrels were selected for this final blend.
The Sheoak vineyard makes expressive, medium-bodied, silky-structured wines. This, for me, is the perfect incarnation, Dark fruit flavours and high notes of cassis and warm spice frame this fine and completely poised vintage of the Nocturne SV. While it’s remarkably accessible on release, this wine would love 5 to 8 years of further maturation, which will really make this amazing wine shine" - Julian Langworthy, Nocturne, Winemaker
"Such a distinctive wine, all floral and pretty at first, even though there’s a certain restrained power throughout. Violets, cassis and mulberries, tobacco and some menthol, cedary oak and spices – all you’d expect from this region. Yet it’s the shape and how it feels on the palate that links it to place, the Sheoak vineyard. Beautifully ripe, fine tannins with an exceptionally long finish make this another classy cabernet." - 96+ Points, Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
