2002 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon Museum Tasting Notes

2002 vintage was characterized by generally cool, dry conditions throughout the South-West of Western Australia. The cool conditions experienced throughout the growing season were responsible for some of the lowest yields on record. The effect of reduced yield is of course generally positive on fruit quality and this has proved to be the case in the 2002 harvest.

Margaret River performed well across all varieties. Select parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from our Margaret River properties produced wines of great intensity and character. The Great Southern has again produced good fruit across all varieties with richly textured Cabernet Sauvignon providing the mainstay of the Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot.

The fruit was fermented in open stainless steel vats with twice daily pumpovers with active aeration to promote the textural development of the wine. The resultant wine was matured in 100% new French oak barriques for 23 months prior to bottling. No fining and only minimal course filtration was performed.

The wine has been re-released with an extra 4 years bottle maturation.

The 2002 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon Museum Release is a different beast. The colour has mellowed to an opaque brick red hue but still vibrant. The nose still displays predominantly the characters of Great Southern Cabernet Sauvignon from a cooler year; dusty leafy tones with dark blackcurrant fruits. There is also developing maturation characters: some dark chocolate, cassis and earth. The high class cedary oak now looks more mocha, has been swallowed by the fruit and exhibits great mid palate structural elements. In summary, this wine has developed into a high class medium bodied cabernet still showing primary fruit characters and the secondary development characters. The tannins are fine, powdery and ripe leading to a cassis and chocolaty finish of great vibrancy and power.

The 2002 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon has, like all its predecessors, all the structural components to reward long term cellaring. The expectation is that the wine would benefit from another 5-10 years maturation.