Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard
Hickinbotham (Clarendon Vineyard) is a new ultra-premium, small batch range produced by Jackson Family Wines (who also own Yangarra). The historic Clarendon vineyard was planted by Alan Hickinbotham in 1971, and quickly established itself as truly unique site, going on to become the source of premium fruit for many illustrious brands over the years, including Clarendon Australis (ongoing), Penfolds Grange and Eileen Hardy.
Trueman represents Cabernet in Clarendon at its best. Its purity, its elegant style, its supple, polished nature ... it’s a wine of its own. Distinct in character, this is not like Cabernet from the Vales below or the hills to the east. From its pretty, delicate florals and musk, through to its silky blackcurrant and kalamata juice and down to its dark carbon soul - Trueman is a modern Cabernet that encapsulates all the toil and antiquity of Clarendon. Echoing the unearthed prose of wine writer Ebenezer Ward from 1886 on the Cabernet sown from this very land – Trueman is "an excelled wine, of very marked flavor and bouquet”.
Winemaker Chris Carpenter worked with Viticulturer Michael Lane to deliver the grapes hand-picked from Clarendon’s high country (220 metres). After destemming, the berries were sorted straight into open fermenters. The cold soak was four days, the wines were pumped over twice daily, and the minimum time on skins was fourteen days. The wine was then basket pressed, combining the resultant free run and light pressings; the heavier pressings were kept separate. Four rack-and-returns were conducted over eighteen months as the wine seasoned in a mixture of fine-grained Bordeaux-coopered barrels.
Tasting Notes
Winemaker's Comments
Trueman is the pinnacle of Clarendon Cabernet. This is a bright, energetic, brilliantly active and entertaining wine. Lithe and elegant, as the vintage dictated, but complex, and promising far within. The pretty topnote aromatics cover the first impressions of flavour. Step two is the strapping acid-and-tannin realisation; then the finish goes on and on: a dainty but determined and forceful sensation of texture more than flavour.
pH 3.54
Acid (g/L) 6.39
Vinification
Winemaker Chris Carpenter worked with Viticulturer Michael Lane to deliver the grapes hand-picked from Clarendon’s high country (220 metres). After destemming, the berries were sorted straight into open fermenters. The cold soak was four days, the wines were pumped over daily, and the minimum time on skins was eighteen days. The wine was then basket pressed, combining the resultant free run and light pressings; the heavier pressings were kept separate.
Maturation
Three rack-and-returns were conducted over fifteen months as the wine seasoned in a mixture of fine-grained Bordeaux-coopered barrels.
Expert Reviews
James Halliday
94 Points
A juicy cassis-driven cabernet of great purity and typicity, oak and tannins a means to an end, and doing precisely what they should.
Halliday Wine Companion 2017
Lisa Perrotti-Brown
90 Points
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, June 2016
Gary Walsh
94 Points
Wine Front, July 2016
Huon Hooke
95 Points
RealReview.com, September 2016
Tony Love
From the moment your nose goes anywhere near this, you know it’s everything cabernet can be. Lifted cassis, black berry with steady steps into the tasting zone, purity of fruit aided by its medium weight structures, while the variety’s necessary tannins are tapered and beneficial to a long, languid finish. It’s a stunner, and similarly, the Hickinbotham 2014 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz is a fabulous claret style that promises a long cellaring life.
Adelaide Advertiser, 14 December 2016
James Halliday
94 Points
A juicy cassis-driven cabernet of great purity and typicity, oak and tannins a means to an end, and doing precisely what they should.
James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2017
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