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Home > Our Wines

2019 Filius Cabernet Sauvignon

'Son of' the Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon. It carries the structure, power and tannins of classic Cabernet in an earlier drinking, succulent style from fruit sourced from each of the Vasse Felix vineyards.

DOWNLOAD TASTING NOTES

Tasting Notes

COLOUR Light garnet. NOSE A savoury nose of miso, wet forest floor, shitake and leather wax opens into light perfumes of mulberry and blackberry juice with a hint of raspberry ice cream. PALATE A fresh but velvety palate with medium weight, a creamy core and fine, elegant tannins. Hints of delicate dried cranberry and sunflower seed nuttiness linger on the finish.

Winemaker Notes

WINEMAKER'S NOTES The individual batches were destemmed and sent as whole berries to stainless steel rotating fermenters for wild fermentation. Cabernet parcels were left on skins for 12-20 days to extract a fine backbone of tannins. Open top and use of aeration during fermentation helped to promote a clean fruit perfume, soften the tannins and bring life to the wine. The resulting wines were matured in fine French oak for 11 months prior to blending, with limited racking to help preserve the delicate wild characters captured in this low intervention approach.

Varietals:

Production Notes

86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot

Alcohol:

Alcohol %

14.5

Cellaring Potential:

Aging

Fresh on release, 10 years to reveal beautiful aged complexities

Harvested:

Harvest Date

April 2019

Oak:

Fermentation

French Oak Barrique, 7% new, 93% 1-5 year old, 11 months average

TA:

Acid

6.3g/L

pH:

pH

3.57

Residual Sugar:

Residual Sugar

0.33g/L

Bottled:

Bottling Date

August 2020

Vintage Notes

2019

A cool, high-humidity start to vintage meant we benefited greatly from precise canopy management to mitigate disease pressure and optimise sun exposure for the fruit. The success of this program enabled us to harvest ripe, clean fruit with slightly lower alcohol and great natural acidity. Mild conditions allowed for extended ripening, creating beautiful aromatics and fine ripe tannins in our reds. Marri Blossom was non-existent throughout the region in 2019, resulting in the largest netting program ever seen at Vasse Felix to protect the fruit from bird damage. Overall, a labour intensive vintage that resulted in beautiful quality fruit.

2019 Filius Cabernet Sauvignon

Reviews

95 Points

James Halliday - Top 100 Wines 2021

It all hangs together perfectly, from its light crimson hue to its ultra-fragrant bouquet and juicy red and black currant palate. Even better is the structure revealed on the finish and aftertaste: tannins wrought with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker.
94 points

Fine Wine Club - Barry Weinmann

This is a beautiful wine, with balance, poise and elegance that belies its entry-level status in the Cabernet range. Supple, near seamless and very long, the fine berry fruit builds, supported by subtle, savoury oak. The tannins add gravitas, without diminishing the fruit. Superb drinking now, or in 5-10 years.
Top 100 Reds & 93 points

The West Australian - Ray Jordan

The cooler 2019 vintage presented its challenges, but it also produced some very good wines. Generally, they are more restrained and slightly leaner in structure, yet they have good flavour intensity. This great-value cabernet has become a winner for Vasse Felix. Blackcurrant varietal fruit with a bay leaf and perfumed red berry lift on the nose. A trace of dusty oyster shell on the palate. So well balanced and focused to a long finish.
91 Points

The Real Review - Gabrielle Poy

A brooding style with notes of vanilla, graphite and blackberries. The palate takes its time but when it does a composed set of fruit, spice and tannin all fall nicely into place. This is a lovely luncheon claret style and its perceived alcohol is lower than what the label states. It holds itself elegantly.
90 points

The Wine Pilot - Angus Hughson

Margaret River has had a string of good vintages stretching back over a decade. The trend continued in 2019 with a year that was slightly cooler than average which has made for a more elegant vintage, which is not such a bad thing. It’s got everything you want in Margaret River cabernet with good depth of colour followed by leafy blackcurrant fruits plus a decent hint of red currants also in the mix. Chief Winemaker Virginia Willcock’s style is for cabernet with a strong varietal signature and this wine has that in spades. It then moves on to a dry, fresh and mid-weight palate with good depth of fruit on a lingering finish. There is more green herbs coming through than usual thanks to the vintage but classic cabernet fans will not be disappointed.
15.5/20

Jancis Robinson

Lightish garnet colour. Lightish nose. Well balanced and easy to like: a little sweet and then the bite of light tannins. Some may find this a little too light. I think you'd appreciate it most if you knew this producer's top bottlings too. 14.5%
91 Points

The Real Review - Gabrielle Poy

A brooding style with notes of vanilla, graphite and blackberries. The palate takes its time but when it does a composed set of fruit, spice and tannin all fall nicely into place. This is a lovely luncheon claret style and its perceived alcohol is lower than what the label states. It holds itself elegantly.
94 Points

James Suckling

Plush aromas of blackcurrants, very herbs and flowers follow through to a medium body with firm, silky tannins and a fresh, vivid finish. Extremely fine-crafted and curated here. Drink and enjoy now, but it will improve.
92 Points

Wine Business Magazine - Mike Bennie

An excellent release of the formidable Filius, this one is perfumed, medium bodied, dark fruited, licked at with sage-like herbal notes and judiciously seasoned with cedary-cinnamon spice. Swamps the palate with flavour but a sheath of tannins does a good job of tidying and drawing the wine to a long, taut conclusion. Excellent release.
91 points

The Wine Front - Gary Walsh

Does anyone here remember ‘White Knight’ bars? Popular in the 80s, apparently discontinued in 2016, sadly. Anyway, you can relive the magic, should you remember them, when you taste this wine. Mint nougat, blackberry and boysenberry, a little sweet spice and roasted nuts. Medium-bodied, quite minty and kind of juicy in dark fruit, something of a sappy herbal character too, grainy cocoa tannin, and a mint chocolate finish of solid length. It’s a little overt in regional (and vintage) character, but a good wine.
93 Points

Ray Jordan - The West Australian Wine Guide 2022

This great-value cabernet has become a winner for Vasse Felix. Blackcurrant varietal fruit with a bay leaf and perfumed red berry lift on the nose. A trace of dusty oyster shell on the palate. So well balanced and focused to a long finish.
92 Points

Wine Spectator

Rich dark chocolate and mocha notes add complexity to the core of wild blackberry, plum and cassis flavors in this red, with fresh minty herbal accents, a green cardamon note and velvety tannins giving this an air of elegance.
92 Points

Wine Business Magazine - Tyson Stelzer

Vasse Felix has a unique manner of delivering ripe Cabernet with tension, endurance and savoury gravitas. For all the grandeur of its top blends, perhaps its most laudable achievement is to deliver all this in its entry wine. Classic lunchtime claret with a promising future before it.
4.5 Stars

Cuisine - Top 7, No. 6 NZ & INTL BORDEAUX- June Publication
91 Points

Wine Advocate - Erin Larkin

2019 was a cool vintage in Margaret River, and in terms of quality, it produced aromatic, detailed Cabernets of poise and grace. This 2019 Filius Cabernet Sauvignon is no exception. It has powdery tannin, kelp and iodine in the mix, too,with raspberry compote, black tea and a squeeze of pomegranate.

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