87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot. This new bottling is the product of Voyager’s clonal trials and learnings. The first release is dominated by two of the newer Bordeaux clones: SA125 Cabernet Sauvignon and Q45 Merlot. Both of these clones were selected for their vibrant red-to-black fruit notes and fine tannins. The vines were planted on gravel loam soils in the most northerly stretches of Voyager Estate.

The two varieties were hand-harvested and fermented separately in a combination of open and static steel and concrete fermenters with varying cap management. Fermentations lasted 14 days (mostly, with one component seeing a further 26 days extended skin contact). Maturation was in tight-grained French oak (45% new) for 15 months. It’s a bright, medium bodied, plummy and pure Cabernet with plenty of fine tannins and a good lick of nettle and earthy complexity on the finish.

“Cocoa, baking spices, mint nougat, black fruit, bay leaf. It’s dark and chocolaty, ripe cocoa and gravel tannin profile, blackcurrant and currant, certainly no shortage of dark chocolate and tobacco, and quite firm acidity on a finish of good length, glimmers of red fruit coming through. Modern it may well be, but better with a couple more years on it, I reckon.” 93 Points, Gary Walsh, The Winefront