Vintage Reviews
Family Reserve ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
Cabernet Sauvignon in all its glory, and while it’s in the riper spectrum, this is by no means jammy. It’s more fresh satsuma plum and blackberry. Laden with flavours from soy sauce and mint chocolate to blackstrap liquorice, unfurling over a full-bodied palate to be met by persuasive, plentiful tannins with the texture of cocoa. All in all, impressive.
Cork 15% alc. Rating 95 to 2029
Highbank Coonawarra Cabernet Blend 2016
A convincing blend comprising 57/38/5% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/cabernet franc. Full of ripe fruit – all cassis, black plums and currants flecked with baking spices, charry oak flavouring and liquorice. Full bodied, bold and rich. Determined and plentiful tannins are ripe, but they do not grip onto the finish and the alcohol warmth lingers.
Tasted: August 2020
Points: 93
2015
Highbank Coonawarra Single Vineyard Merlot 2015
Highbank are one of my favourite South Australian wine producers that I seem to always forget about. The wines are stoically traditionally, grown and raised organically and deliver a near peerless Coonawarra expression. These are natural wines that defy the naysayers of the category.
This is as good a merlot as I’ve seen in recent years. Seamless, svelte, incredibly succulent and appetising tannins (those tannins!), dark plum and berry fruit but all of that understated, rasps of ferrous earthiness and graphite minerality, faint ‘Aussie bush character’ – there’s so much going on but it’s seamless, finessed and just shy of medium weight across the palate. Every sip I wanted another. Big call. It’s merlot, and old school-good school, and outdoing that region with an X at the end of it. This is the one. Must drink.
Rated: 96+ Points
Tasted: April 2020
Alcohol: 15%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2020-2040
Highbank Coonawarra Single Vineyard Merlot 2015
A very attractive bouquet, with aromas of redcurrent and mulberry to the fore, minor notes of cedar and chocolate/mocha in the background. Just medium-weight on the palate, then approach is soft, red fruits again providing the theme, light but persistent astringency becoming more pronounced as it goes along. I’d like to see it flesh out a little more, which it may well do.
Tasted: August 2020
Highbank Coonawarra 2015
It’s been a long time between Highbanks for me, so nice to get reacquainted, though our Mike has heaped glowing praise on the last couple of vintages.
Rich and ripe, blackberry, currant and fig, aniseed and pencils. Medium to full bodied, ample flavour fills the mouth, dark chocolate and dark cherry, tobacco and earth, oak in a positive and supporting role, balanced acidity, grainy high cocoa chocolate tannin, and a long dry finish. Bold but very good.
Rated: 94 Points
Tasted: October 2019
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2020-2030+
Highbank Coonawarra Family Reserve 2015
Natural wine from before natural wine became a thing – that’s Highbank. Long term biodynamic-organic farmed, wild ferment, only additive is (low-ish) SO2. Such brilliant, wonderful wines here.
Oh yeah. Here’s a seriously good wine. It’s not quite to the epic level of the 2014 but its close. Succulent feel, medium weight, really pure fruit character, light sheen of oak spice a whisper in the wine. Pretty cassias and lavender characters, light green herb and pepper elements, some graphite minerality and a moreish, fresh feel. There’s a faint meaty character of the wine too. Such detail and interest, such awesome deliciousness and a general sense that you’re drinking something extraordinarily fine.
Rated: 95+ Points
Tasted: April 2020
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2020-2040+
Highbank Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc
The style is for maturing medium term so it is a question of degree as the blackcurrant fruit turns more savoury with age. Aromas are blackcurrant and blackberry.
The palate is generously round and rich cabernet focused flavours with fruit sweetness and good integration.
A generous and rich wine with a fine tannin finish.
2014
Highbank Coonawarra Family Reserve 2014
Farmed without chemicals, made with tradition on hand, old school-great school. Love these wines; (minimal intervention) Coonawarra at its finest.
Great wine here. Has tension and length in spades, a web of very good tannin, some very quiet maturity in brick dust and baking spice characters, the sense of judicious oak seasoning actually layering in complexity and positive attribute. Deeply flavoured, concentrated, cassias meets clove meets saltbush meets beef stock. Just a fabulous array of scent and flavour going on. And that texture. Yes thanks. Excellent Australian cabernet in full flight.
Rated: 96 Points
Tasted: December 2019
Alcohol: 13%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2019-2024
Highbank Coonawarra 2014
Organic farming for over two decades, minimal intervention winemaking, ‘delicately matured in the finest of French oak barrels for one year…”. There’s such a wonderful story behind the stoic Highbank winery. And stellar wines. From the old school but very good school. From Coonawarra .
Serious feeling red of concentration, firm ribs of tannins, incredible power and presence in the glass. A moody perfume of black currants, dried and fresh, mocha, black liquorice, bay leaf and chesterfield chairs (!). You get the sense that the wine is pent up, tightly wound, but there’s still richness and a decadent pleasure here too. It stretches luxuriously and firmly through the mouth, bound in silty tannin and bright acidity. It’s magnificent.
Rated: 95+ Points
Tasted: May 2018
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2020-2030+
Highbank Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra, SA)
This lighter shade red shimmies along a nerve of brittle, verdant tannins laden with dusty pencil shavings to iodine and crunchy acidity. The savoury mulch to peat flavours expand to currant, sour plum, tobacco leaf and red cherry, with air. This will grow in stature and may be the wine for the purists, but the ‘13 is just too darn delicious right now!
Rated: 95 Points
Drink: 2034
Highbank Single Vineyard (Coonawarra, SA)
Cab (60%), Merlot (30%) and the rest Cab. Franc, there is a little more fruit in the Cabernet pastry with the addition of Merlot, than the straight-laced Family Reserve bottling from the same vintage.
Merlot, an earlier ripener, serves this vintage well. This opens beautifully, with currant and a mottled leafiness blossoming to a pure line of cassis within a day of opening. Far from jammy, the tannins bind the sumptuous fruit to a dictum of precision and finesse.
Rated: 94 Points
Drink: 2033
Highbank Coonawarra Family Reserve Single Vineyard 2014: this lighter shade red shimmies along a nerve of brittle, verdant tannins laden with dusty pencil shavings to iodine and crunchy acidity. The savoury mulch to peat flavours expanded to currant, sour plum, tobacco leaf and red cherry, with air. This will grow in stature and may be the wine for the purists, but the ‘13 is just too darn delicious right now!
93/100 – 2033 13% Cork
Highbank Coonawarra Single Vineyard 2014 Coonawarra Cab (60%), Merlot (30%); Cab. Franc: there is a little more jam in the Cabernet pastry with the addition of Merlot, than the straight-laced Family Reserve bottling from the same vintage. Merlot, as an earlier ripener, serves this vintage well. This opens beautifully, with currant and a mottled leafiness blossoming to a pure line of cassis within a day of opening. Far from jammy, the tannins bind the sumptuous fruit to a dictum of precision and finesse.
94/100 – 14% Cork
Highbank Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc (Coonawarra, SA)
The 2014 is more savoury and reserved, with elegant dusty tannins, for lovers of old-fashioned claret. Will age superbly well in the cellar.
Highbank Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra, SA)
The 2014 is more restrained and shy, with tight little blackcurrant fruit flavours and cedary, savoury tannin. It needs time in the cellar to reveal all its glorious complexity.
2013
2013 Family Reserve Cabernet Single Vineyard
A dutifully forward vintage, yet far from fat, this scented ‘13 is supine upon entry and gorgeous drinking in its youth, bristling with currant, mint, black olive, mulch, cigar box and plum. Yet paradoxically, savoury and mid to full-weighted, the wine is strung across a timbre of herbal inflected tannins that grow tactile and moreish with time in the glass; well appointed oak and juicy acidity, suggesting that it will carry well into old age irrespective of its generous glow already.
95 points – Drinking now to 2035
2013 Coonawarra Single Vineyard
Comprised of cab (63%); merlot (32%); cab franc (5%), this generous red boasts a riper spectrum of damson plum, mace, cedar and black olive than the ‘14, meshed with sage and bouquet garni. Mid to full-weighted and steeped in pedigree of structure and complexity of aroma, this is full and beautifully expansive across the mid-drift, yet the finish is just a bit shrill, tangy and acerbic. In all, despite its cooler bones and restraint, the ‘14 is the winner of this cuvée.
91 points – Drinking now to 2031
Highbank Coonawarra 2013
It has been an eon since I have seen Highbank wines, and I readily forgot that they are (a) long term biodynamic/organic farmers and (b) make wine ‘naturally’ – two things that you don’t often see from Coonawarra. This is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot with a splash of cabernet franc. It is the only wine they make (well, there’s a Reserve too, but the gist is the same), though you can but it right up to 6 litre bottle size.
A formidable wine of power and grace. Lavish in dark fruits, clove and cinnamon spice, whiffs of bayleaf, mahogany, dark chocolate, Chinese five spice. The wine courses through the palate with intent, deep on flavour, imperial in stout tannins and assertive as it exits long. It’s not for now, nor likely for five years, but a wine that needs a very good sleep. Superb wine full of glorious, cabernet et al architecture .
Rated: 95+ Points
Tasted: May 2018
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2020-2030+
Highbank Coonawarra Family Reserve Single Vineyard 2013:
A dutifully forward vintage, far from fat, this scented ‘13 is supine and gorgeous drinking in its youth, bristling with currant, mint, black olive, mulch, cigar box and plum. Yet paradoxically, savoury and mid to full-weighted, the wine is strung across a timbre of herbal inflected tannins, well-appointed oak and juicy acidity, suggesting that it will carry well into old age.
96/100 – 2035 14% Cork
Highbank Coonawarra Single Vineyard 2013 Coonawarra Cab (63%); Merlot (32%); Cab Franc (5%): a riper spectrum of damson plum, mace, cedar and black olive than the ‘14, meshed with sage and bouquet garnish, this mid to full-weighted wine boasts a pedigree and complexity of aroma. Full and expansive across the mid-drift, the finish is just a bit shrill, tangy and acerbic. In all, despite its cooler bones and restraint, the ‘14 is the winner of this cuvée.
90/100 – 2031 14.5% Cork
Highbank Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc (Coonawarra, SA)
The 2013 vintage of this wine is gorgeous: pretty, floral cabernet fruit lift, fine and supple tannins. Will age superbly well in the cellar.
Highbank Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra, SA)
Again, the 2013 is the more approachable and eager-to-please vintage: quite plush and voluptuous mulberry fruit framed by firm but yielding tannins. It needs time in the cellar to reveal all its glorious complexity.
Ten Best Cabernet Sauvignons
“The legendary position of Penfolds Grange makes shiraz the most famous grape variety of Australia. However, Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of some Australian wine regions, such as Coonawarra in South Australia, central Valley of Yarra Valley, Margaret River in Western Australia. Among the following ten Cabernet Sauvignon, some enjoy long reputations of up to hundred years, some are new in recent decades. Any serious Australian wine master should at least try them all.”
“Highbank Family Reserve, Coonawarra, South Australia, 149 AUD”
The dominating vineyards in Coonawarra, South Australia are big and belong to large wineries some even multinational in size. Highbanks small family vineyard grows its grapes organically and produces a very unique fine wine with pleasant lasting flavours. This top Cabernet Sauvignon tastes of and expresses fragrances of black currant and mulberry, complimented with a hint of dark chocolate and black olive.
Ranked 5th of the TEN Top Cabernets in Australia!”
1 – Woodlands 150.00 AUD
2 – Lakes Folly 90.00 AUD
3 – Cullen 350.00 AUD
4 – Wendouree 120.00 AUD
5 –Highbank “Family Reserve”149.00 AUD
6 – Yeringberg 90.00 AUD
7 – Wynns John Riddoch 140.00 AUD
8 – Mount Mary “Quintet” 150.00 AUD
9 – Crawford River 50.00 AUD
10 – Mac Forbes “Hugh” 70.00 AUD
“Highbank Family Reserve, Coonawarra, South Australia”
Highbank stands out significantly, where large Winery operates on sizable wine yard remains the major business model in Coonwarra, South Australia.
Highbank adopts organic planting, which makes a unique style, long lasting spirit.
This top product of Highbank contains heavy fruit fragrance of blackcurrant and muberry, wrapped in multi-levels of black chocolate and black olive flavors, ranked 5th of TEN Top Cabernets in Australia!
2013 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc.
Medium deep colour. Fresh rose garden, plum, slight rhubarb maraschino cherry aromas. Sweet fruit, rhubarb, red cherry flavours, fine chalky tannins. Finishes al dente firm and long. Very attractive wine. 94 points
2012
2012 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Merlot’
Medium deep colour. Intense cranberry, dark plum aromas with spicy, vanilla notes. Sweet fruited, generous and supple with fresh redcurrant, cranberry, plum flavours, fine lacy/chocolaty textures, lovely mid-palate richness and vanilla, herb notes. Finishes chalky firm with a spicy kick. An expressive merlot with lovely vinosity and impact. “Numquam periit amor” [ed: love never dies]. Now – 2020+ 94 points
Highbank Coonawarra Single Vineyard Merlot 2012
(14% alcohol; cork; 93++ points) is dedicated by his family to the memory of my sweet buddy Morgan Vice, who fiercely loved the Merlot in the Vice’s pioneering organic vineyard in the heart of Coonawarra. The Highbank ’94 was previously the best Australian Merlot I’d tasted. This one’s ripe, and the first of my selection to have some blackberry in there with the cherries and plums. It’s bigger and riper and more boisterous than the others, with no moss, but it’s still not like ordinary Cabernet. It’s a good stretch apart from the determined and wondrous Highbank Cabernets (big Medo- style organic Coonawarras; go, buy). It, too, has a whiff of something approaching Soir de Paris, and it has some twisty soft licorice, violets and lavender. Again, the tannins are chalky. Until, at the very end, they take up that amber/Linden citrus. This one’s freshest of the lot on day four, so despite the cork, it’d be my suggestion if you’re talking about serious dungeon. Those serious alcohols are never too evident, but they help make this a bigger wine than the rest. Like Morgs, this drink never heard the word mellow. Call it mellow, and the Vice family will sue.
2012 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc.
Medium deep colour. Scented pure blackcurrant, plum aromas with musky Turkish Delight notes. Beautiful elegant style with cassis, praline flavours, integrated spicy, vanilla oak and fine persistent loose knit grainy, slightly al-dente tannins. Finishes chocolaty firm with long flavourful blackcurrant pastille notes. Textbook Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Now – 2022+ 95 points
2012 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Family Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Deep colour. Intense seductive rhubarb, dark cherry blackcurrant aromas. Richly flavoured cassis, mulberry, rhubarb fruit, vanilla notes and fine generous tannins. If he’s form and tight. Elemental but really well concentrated, bouyant and interesting.
95 points
2012 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Merlot’
Medium deep colour. Aromatic clear fruited wine with seductive dried plum, mulberry aromas – a touch more confected than the Cabernet. Richly concentrated with sweet dark plum fruits, musky notes, savoury espresso oak notes and fine plentiful chalky textures. Very good. 93 points
2010
2010 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Family Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Medium deep colour. Classical cassis, herb garden, inky aromas with underlying mocha, cigar box notes. A generous, sinuous palate with bell-clear cassis, herb, cedar flavours, fine long grainy textures, and underling savoury vanilla notes. Finishes chalky firm with superb mineral length. This is a really beautifully balanced wine with modulated power and delicious fruit complexity. An exemplary expression of terra rossa cabernet sauvignon. Now – 2022. 96 points
2010 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Family Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Medium deep colour. Cassis, graphite, herb garden aromas with chocolate notes. Fresh chewy textures wine with mulberry, cassis, flavours, plentiful chalky tannins, touch al dente. Finishes firm with savoury biscuity notes. Attractive drinking wine with some bottle age complexity. 95 points
2009
2009 ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Family Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Medium deep colour. Cassis/ blackcurrant/ dried roses -cedar notes. Delicious buoyant fresh blackcurrant/ juicy flavours, chalky finegrained tannins, touch of cedar/ sweet vanilla. This is a cracker. Chalky finish. Beautiful cabernet. Drink now-2025 95 points
2009 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Family Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Medium deep colour. Fragrant cassis, elderberry cedar light truffle with mocha notes. Sweet fruited and supple with delicious cassis, dried fruit flavours, sage notes gravelly textures and underlying mocha oak. Finishes long with a plume of tannin. Generous and delicious. 94 points
2009 Highbank Family Reserve Cabernet
Setting Standards: the stunning classically proportioned, elegant Coonawarra reds of Highbank sit, for some unfathomable reason, under the radar of most wine lovers. God knows why, because they’re brilliant: this oozes finesse. Benchmark wine.
2008
2008 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Family Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Medium deep colour. Intense dark chocolate aromas. Sweet fleshy wine with dried roses, plum vanilla, sweet fruits, fine chocolatey tannins and long minerally finish. 94 points
2008 Highbank Family Reserve Coonawarra
Link to review on the Decanter website
Drink 2012 – 2017
Overall 86 Points
2005
2005 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Merlot’
Medium deep colour. Slightly stale tobacco, truffle inky aromas. Sweet slinky textures wine with praline, tobacco, truffle flavours, fine loose knit chocolaty textures. Finishes firm with good mineral length. 93 points
2005 Highbank Merlot
Lightly spicy oak, excellent floral and briar rose lift and more ripe raspberry aroma than plum.
“Superb balance” on the palate, finishing a touch warm with tight tannins.
13.5% v/v – cork
2004
2004 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra ‘Merlot’
Medium deep colour. Lovely violet, leafy, cassis, English Country garden aromas. Well concentrated wine with silky textures, slightly pronounced acidity. Lovely elegant style. 92 points
2004 Highbank Merlot
Perched in a prime Riddoch Highway location, Highbank has always been a bastion of and quality and pride. This is a sweet, complex-smelling merlot, really lifted purple florals, ripe mulberry and plums. Some smooth tannins tube around ripe plum fruit flavour; even, elegant and neatly balanced. Already building mature character. 92 points
2004 Highbank Coonawarra
Many West Australians are surprised to find that Highbank has been established in Coonawarra since the early eighties, as it’s not a well-known winery here (this will change). In most years Highbank concentrates on a single wine – a blend of Bordeaux varieties (mainly Cabernet). Wines from this small maker are quite unique and rate up there with the very best the region has to offer (this one nudged out Majella to represent Coonawarra). Best vintages present a ‘French’ profile and the 2004 could pass as ‘left bank’ Bordeaux. Presents aromas of rich dark fruit, smoke, earth, pepper, and dark chocolate. On the palate, intense concentrated ‘black fruit’ flavours with firm fine-grained tannins and crisp acid. Exhibits excellent balance and a long finish.
Winorama rated it 94/100. Drinking best 2010 – 2017.
2004 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
Highbank is an organic vineyard and perhaps not as well known as some of the bigger players. If you happened to taste their 2001 releases then you would be very aware of them. Cracking wines.
Aromas of rich dark fruit, smoke, earth, pepper, dark chocolate and pencil shavings oak. Slightly animal but very attractive.
On the full bodied palate there are flavours of blackberry, raspberry and blackcurrant – concentrated and intense – along with more savoury bitter chocolate, earth and tobacco flavours. All very adult. Firm fine grained tannins and crisp acidity. Quite tight.
It has a typical and very classic linear cabernet profile that runs through the length of the palate. Looks a lot like left bank Bordeaux and I like it a lot. I think I will give it 94 points.
Alcohol : 14%
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2010 – 2017
94 points
2004 Highbank Merlot
The Coonawarra 2004 feature is not over just yet. I have a few more up my sleeve don’t you worry about that. I have just been tardy. This came with the cabernet from the same vintage and from what I can gather is a very small make of around 100 cases.
I do like merlot. I am a Merlotiste and being of a generally optimistic nature I always open a bottle looking to be delighted. No crestfallen little face this time though because this is an excellent example of the noble grape.
Pre-release sample. A complex earthy smelling wine offering up plum, blackcurrant, mint, tobacco, licorice and high quality cedar oak.
On the palate medium bodied with blackcurrant and red fruit, tobacco and other pleasantly varietal herbal flavours. Firm dry tannins and clean acidity further the impression of freshness and vitality. Long dry savoury finish.
Not a blockbuster by any means. This is a wine of considerable charm and poise and one that needs more time in the cellar to show its best.
Rated : 92+ Points
Tasted : Mar07
Alcohol : 14%
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2010 – 2016
2004 Highbank Merlot
An unusual wine with a vinous nose, green-edged with hints of asparagus, plum and marzipan.
A lighter style palate with good balance of flavours, “acceptable in many instances as a very different Merlot”.
13.5% v/v – cork
2003
2003 Highbank Coonawarra
A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and Cabernet Franc 5%. The nose is still quite tight with soft red-berried fruit: raspberry coulis, wild strawberry and touch of spice, with mulberry developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied, grainy tannins, a succulent core of raspberry and cherry with a nice citrus finish. Just lacking a little backbone but otherwise this is very agreeable. Drink now-2012. 88 points
2003 Highbank Coonawarra
Dennis Vice has long championed the benefits of organic viticulture, and this wine – with considerable age already under it’s belt – comes from the tiny, organic, Vice family vineyard on Coonawarra’s famed terra rossa soil. Basket-pressing and a decent stint in fine-grained French oak has produced a nose with a confit of dark fruit, leather, and cedar, while the palate is lush and seamless with real weight and intensity. That power is matched beautifully by soft acidity and a wave of firm, drying tannin. Stick It away for a while or decant and enjoy now.
2002
2002 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc.
Medium deep colour. Sweet dried herb, tobacco with star anise notes. Sweet fleshy dried herb, cassis, praline flavours and loose knit chalky tannins, mineral textures, graphite. Finishes firm and minerally long. Lovely pure fruit notes. 94 points
2002 Highbank Coonawarra
A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and Cabernet Franc 5%. This has a lovely fragrant nose of black cherries, raspberry leaf a touch of cassis and vanillin. Good definition. The palate is medium-bodied, very good acidity, very well defined with a certain coolness about it. Harmonious with sappy redcurrant and blueberry towards the finish. This has a certain about it which I find endearing. Sophisticated. Drink now-2015. 92 points
2002 Highbank Coonawarra Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc
Upon first opening, the wine displayed a distinct leafy edge with cedary overtones. However, with some breathing, it blossomed to reveal blackcurrant aromas and flavours with a spicy edge and Highbank’s trademark fine grained tannin structure. This wine definitely needs more time in the bottle.
Highly Recommended
2002 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’ Proprietary Blend
THREE CORKS OUR TOP RATING
By far the most popular wine of the night.
“A bordelaise influenced nose with mellowed red berry fruit, spices and hints of tar, eucalypt and earth. A medium bodied palate yet packed full of spicy fruit flavours supported by supple, finely textured tannins.
This wine has the vibrancy and balance to support long term ageing Strict organic practices & declassification of all but the best fruit, means this wine is always produced in very small quantities.”
WINE ARK FOR COLLECTORS OF FINE WINE Tasting – Australian National Museum, Sydney
2002 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
The single rose on the label is most evocative, which is probably why I thought the wine smelled of roses too. In truth, it has the smell and colour of Valentine’s Day. No chemical herbicides or pesticides.
2001
2001 Highbank Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra .
We love this wine because it is very true to it’s soil. From iron rich, Terra Rossa soils, this basket-pressed wine is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Aromatically vibrant, this wine delivers sweet red fruit and cassis. With great fruit purity and intense, plum, iodine and bittersweet chocolate notes, enjoy this wine over the next 8 years.
2001 Highbank Coonawarra
A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and Cabernet Franc 5%. The nose is a little more muted compared to the 2002. Broody black fruits, just a hint of shoe-polish. Full-bodied, firm tannins, quite muscular and slightly dry on the finish. Certainly the increase in merlot from the ensuing vintage has benefitted this wine. Touch of mulberry on the finish: quite a stoic, conservative wine but good breeding. Drink 2010-2020. 90 points
2001 Highbank Coonawarra Proprietary Red
A fresh minty note on the nose, then pure and stylish plum and chocolate notes in the mouth. If you’ve been put off by Australian wines that come on too foursquare, this elegant red will restore your faith. A Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc.
Highbank is starting to appear in the right places. They’re on the shelves of such high profile wine shops as Morrell at Rockefeller Center and Whole Foods at the Time Warner Center. They’re served at top-end restaurants including Daniel, Artisanal, and Masa. Just-opened Yumcha, the buzzy Asian fusion restaurant in Greenwich Village, will shortly inaugurate a wine list that omits such standards as red Bordeaux and California Cab but includes Highbank.
In Atlantic City, the foodie-friendly casino Borgata pours Highbank wines, as do the Breakers and Four Seasons in Palm Beach. In all wines are in more than 60 East Coast restaurants.
2001 Highbank Coonawarra ‘Basket Pressed’
“Another Organic offering, but from the pumpin’ heart of old Coonawarra, This is the best yet from tiny Highbank.
It’s sublime: juicy, slick, intensely flavored cabernet blend at full ripeness, yet with perfectly balanced elegance and poise.
Drink it before the rest of the world does – the word’s well and truly out.
Food: Pink rack of lamb with rosemary and parsnip.”
93 points
2001 Coonawarra Basket Press – 70% Cabernet Sauvignon | 25% Merlot | 5% Cabernet Franc
A terrific and classy wine that demonstrates complexity of flavour, generous fruit, structure with the promise of longevity. One could be forgiven for thinking that the Merlot and Cabernet Franc components comprise a greater proportion of the blend than they do, as this wine is far from dominated by ‘typical’ cassis and peppermint Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon character but instead these form part of this wine’s broader and more intricate flavour spectrum.
Download Full Review (85 kb)
2001 Highbank Coonawarra Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet Franc
Enticing nose with a wonderful amalgam of cassis, violets and blackcurrant aromas, very fine but intense. The wine is elegant, with its sweet fruit dancing on top of a fine grained tannin structure which carries all the flavours on a long, lingering palate. Refined drinking even now but will benefit considerably from bottle age. This is the 10th vintage of this wine and it’s hard to imagine any previous release topping this example.
Outstanding
2001 Highbank Coonawarra Basket Pressed Merlot
Just when you think Australia has lost its way with this variety, you encounter a merlot with real texture. This is just such a wine highlighted by a fine, spicy fragrance of ripe plums and red berries. It has an intensely flavoured middle palate supported by very fine tannins and a long, lingering finish. Its tight structure cries out for cellaring.
Outstanding
2001 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
“Medium-deep bright red. Fragrant cedary perfume of violet, cassis and mulberry, with hints of herbs and forest floor. Fine and harmonious on the palate, with lively red and blackberry flavors and lightly smoky vanillin oak wrapped in tight, fine tannins. Finished with lingering sweet fruit flavors and suggestions of truffle and undergrowth.”
Enjoy this wine over the next 8 years.
2000
2000 Highbank “Coonawarra” Basket Pressed.
“Deep and suprisingly evolved with ripe, mature fruitcake aromas and a touch of peapod. The palate is soft, mellow and fully mature with good fruit.” 93 Points
2000 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’ Basket Pressed
“Very minty and bright with a creamy, delicious palate, integrated oak and lovely blackcurrant fruit. This needs time to really show but it is lovely with a hint of farmyard” 0-5 yrs. 93 Points
2000 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
92 points
Drink Now – 2010
2000 Highbank Coonawarra Basket Press
Highbank wine “Coonawarra Basket Press” is made of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc (7000 yen/Vintners). Extremely complex structure with soft and delicate acidity and tannins. Long length. Drink Now to 2015. 92 points
1999
1999 Highbank ‘Single Vineyard’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc.
Medium deep colour. Cassis, touch black olive, chloride aromas. Well concentrated dark fruits, black olive flavours with chocolaty notes, fine grained tannins and underlying savoury notes. Finishes firm and long. Interesting wine. Still fresh and attractive. 92 points
1999 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’ Proprietary Red
“Australia’s version of a top notch Pauillac (such as Lynch Bages or Grand Puy Lacoste) this spectacular blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc displays an opaque purple color along with terrific aromatics of cedar, tobacco, blueberry, blackberry, and cassis. Full-bodied, with great richness, and fabulous texture, this stunning effort from Coonawarra is difficult to resist at present, but should age effortlessly for 12+ years. Anticipated maturity: now – 2014.” 94 points
1999 Highbank ‘ Coonwarra’
92+++ points
Drink 2006 – 2015
1999 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
Highbank is a small (1000 cases) Coonawarra producer who remains somewhat unheralded, a matter which, on the evidence of this wine, is entirely unjustified. At six years of age this looks very young, and throws off an impressive array of primary aroma’s including anise, tar, mint, earth and red/black fruits.
On the palate it is quite seamless, with an impressive middle palate that stamps it as a Cabernet of class. It is intense, powerful and very long with that unique regional mint character, and whilst it still needs a few more years to fully hit its straps, a good decant does wonders right now.
One of the very best Coonawarra Cabernet’s in recent memory, and one that will only get better over the next 3-5 years.
Type: Cabernet Blend
Year: 1999
Points: 94+
Drink When: 2007-2015
Who is The Wining Pro? Well, he’s former touring Professional Golfer, Grant Dodd, a member of the Australasian PGA TOUR and the PGA of Australia since 1993. Grant has also at various times been a member of the European Tour(1999- 2002) and Asian Tour (1997-1999) , winning the 1999 Slovenian Open on the European Challenge Tour. Grant was an exempt player on the Australasian Tour from 1994 to 2004. A winner of over twenty pro-ams throughout Australia, he also competed with distinction in both the 1997 and 1998 British Open Championships, at Royal Troon and Royal Birkdale respectively. Playing in the City of Sydney Pro-am in 1995, Grant found himself partnered with none other than the doyen of the Australian wine industry, Len Evans, AO OBE. That chance meeting provided the stimulus for an interest in wine to flourish, aided and abetted in no small way by regular excursions to Evans’ well stocked cellar! Injuries (knee,wrist and back) dictated that Grant look for an alternative occupation, so at the beginning of 2005 he began to concentrate on the media and the wine industry. Since July 2003, he has been the wine writer for Australia’s biggest selling golf magazine, Australian Golf Digest, taking over from Len Evans. He also contributes regular articles to the publication about life on tour. In addition to his writing, Grant is a part of the FOX Sports golf commentary team. He is also an accomplished public speaker, having entertained numerous corporate functions with his observations of life on tour as a professional golfer.
1998
1998 Highbank “Coonawarra” Proprietary Red
This superb, opaque purple-colored, high class blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20%Merlot, and 12% Cabernet Franc has brilliantly absorbed its aging in 100% new French oak. The wine is classy, pure, and as my tasting notes opined, “the Leoville Las Cases of Australia?” with gorgeous black cherry and black current flavors intermixed with lead pencil, vanillin, and mineral, medium to full body, high tannin, and superb delineation, it will benefit from 1 – 2 years of cellaring and drink well for 15 – 16. This is another candidate for inserting into a blind tasting of top Bordeaux to see how it fares.” 91 points
1998 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
WILD aniseed, mint and forest vines introduce this baby. These greens vibrate on top as the smoother, softer, chocolate and blackcurrant flesh grows deliciously below. After that early-opening frenzy, it becomes apparent that the wine has a lovely subdued structure, settling in for the long haul. The oak is smoky, subtle, spicy and supportive. Overall, it’s elegantly balanced and ready to go – it simply needs lots of calm cellar.
92++ points. 13.5 percent alcohol
Drink 2005 – 2012
1997
1997 Highbank “Coonawarra” Proprietary Red
“This impressively made, Bordeaux-inspired blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc tips the scales at 13.5% alcohol. It offers sweet French Oak in the nose along with scents of black cherries and currants, a sweet, concentrated, full-bodied mid-palate, and a long, rich, concentrated finish. The wine possesses adequate acidity, sweet tannin and a pleasant dose of high quality wood. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.” 92 points
1997 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
92++ points
Drink 2002 – 2012
1996
1996 Highbank “Coonawarra” Proprietary Red
“A very impressive wine, this Bordeaux blend (66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc could easily pass for a classic Medoc in a blind tasting. The organically farmed vineyard has produced a deep opaque purple-colored wine that has been aged in French oak (as evidenced in the high class cedar, spice, and vanillin scents) “Full-bodied, with outstanding richness, a cherry, multi-layered texture, admirable purity, and superb overall equilibrium and palate presence, this is a beautifully knit, restrained yet intensely-flavoured Cabernet Sauvignon based wine that is only hinting at its ultimate potential.” Anticipated maturity: 2001 – 2015″ 91+ points
1996 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
“Explosively aromatic and supremely complex, this is an exemplary indication of what can be achieved in the blessed Coonawarra appellation”
1996 Highbank ‘Coonawarra’
90 points
Drink 1998 – 2008