St Hallett selects individual parcels each year for inclusion into
the Reward, fruit is sourced from a tally of sites planted to red brown loam over shale and red clay soils in the south and central Barossa. Harvests from the cooler, slower ripening sites to the south of the Valley, yield parcels of the most intensely flavoured grapes. As vintage approaches, St Hallett's winemakers and viticulturalists spend time in the vineyards monitoring sugar/ acid profiles and flavour development, co-ordinating the harvest to a schedule based on complete ripeness.
Cabernet Sauvignon is harvested off vineyards which have been contributing fruit to St Hallett for many years, grapes are immediately crushed into fermenters, inoculated to a mix of neutral specialty yeasts and choice Bordeaux strains, to encourage complexity whilst achieving intensity of aroma and flavour. Components are vinified over the course of several days at moderate temperatures. An ardent regimen of cap management and pumpover achieves optimal colour, aiding complex flavours and ripe tannins to be gently extracted. Upon completion, batches are drained and pressed, seeded with lactic and treated to malolactic in a selection of seasoned and new French and American oak for sixteen months.
TASTING NOTESOpaque red, deep magenta hues. Seductive aromas of blackcurrant and aniseed, lifted bright purple fruits. A firm structure of ripe tannins, dark berries at the core, leafiness and cassis in support of savoury olive and dark bramble berry flavours, perfumed by the classic mintyness which is the hallmark of all things St Hallett. The Barossa Cabernet of choice to accompany beef cheek or lamb.