2008 Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon Reviews

“The one winery that perhaps has done most to foster a fine wine reputation for this remote corner of Western Australia is Howard Park. Despite taking a portion of their flagship Abercrombie cabernet sauvignon from Margaret River, it is the Great Southern portion that produces, in good vintages, a wine with perfume, grace and longevity. An absolutely supreme vintage of this masterful wine, the 2008 has the magic combination of aromatic cedary, cassis fruit matched by a firm structural core of fine-grained tannins. Too young to drink now it will begin to hit its straps in around 10 years? time.”

Angus Hughson, WISH magazine - 06-11-2010
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“...the flagship 2008 Howard Park 'Abercrombie' Cabernet Sauvignon. This is Howard Park's top cabernet, blended from the best material from their extensive holdings in Margaret River and the Great Southern region. It's an outstanding, powerful but elegant wine sourced principally from an old vineyard at nearby Mount Barker - with only a small proportion from Margaret River, Western Australia's premier cabernet region. The dominance in Mount Barker material in the blend seems fitting, if challenging.”

Chris Shanahan, The Canberra Times - 01-11-2010
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“This blend of Great Southern (70%) and Margaret River (30%) cabernet seems to improve with each release and is one of the state's finest reds. It's brooding, brambly, tight and powerful. Just give it some time.”

Peter Forrestal, STM Magazine, The Sunday Times - 08-10-2010
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“This is a blend of Great Southern and Margaret River cabernet. A more refined and stylish wine than the previous outstanding 2007, and very typical of this Great Southern vintage. Savoury, blackcurrant and leafy tobacco notes provide a complex attack on the nose. The palate is just gorgeously supple, elegant and stylish, yet the fruit weight and intensity is superb. Just about the best yet in this long line-up.”

97 Points
Ray Jordan, West Weekend - 11-09-2010
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“'Best of the Best' Beautifully poised bouquet, with unmistakable varietalleafiness and bucket loads of enticing cassis fruit; the bouquet moves intoflorals, with oak playing a minor role to the pristine and ample fruit; thepalate displays an impeccable balance of fruit, acid and silky fine-grained tannins,revealing a long complex and wonderfully satisfying experience; while it willage gracefully, many simply won't wait, and they will not be disappointed.”

96 Points
James Halliday, 2011 Australian Wine Companion - 11-08-2010

“This has been highly acclaimed by several wine writers recently. It's a beauty. It has delightful aromas and long, rich flavours of redcurrants, cassis, violets and blackberries, which are well supported by classy cedar oak. It's the sublime structure of this that makes it the complete package - powerful, yet still soft with lovely acid and excellent tannins.”

Ben Thomas, Decanter - 01-08-2010

“A powerful, long-lived Howard Park, this is a honed wine of excellent length, fine-grained, graphite-like tannins and integrated oak. There's all the varietal flavour you would expect along the way - blackcurrants, cassis, capsicum, and leaf. All it needs is a decade. ”

95 Points
Tyson Stelzer, Wine100 - 01-07-2010

“The 2008 quite simply blew me away with its fragrance, fine tannins, freshness, fabulous fruit purity (cassis and black olive) and subtle cedary oak - Abercrombie on overdrive! Fortunately Howard Park's owner Jeff Burch was on hand so I could quiz him about this vintage's tangible hike in quality from an already impressive base and one, I might add, that just bagged Cabernet of The Year in Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh's just-released The Big Red Wine Book 2010/11. Burch told me that he's using the kit he bought for Marchand and Burch Pinot Noir (a wine he makes in collaboration with Burgandy's Pascal Marchand). This meant that, in 2008, Abercrombie fruit underwent even more rigorous selection across the vibrating sorting table, resulting in less petioles (leaf stalks), so finer tannins. There's a little less oak too (40% compared with 50% in 2007). A gorgeous, elegant Cabernet.”

SARAH AHMED, THE WINE DETECTIVE - 03-06-2010
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“CABERNET SAUVIGNON OF THE YEAR - 97 POINTS Howard Park has been making top-notch Cabernet Sauvignon for over twenty years but it's pulled out a ripper from the 2008 vintage. This is what cabernet is all about. Long-flavoured, rich and regal, its potential for cellaring abundantly clear. This is a wine with both authority and softness; as with so many of the world's best wines, this will drink beautifully in any situation, as a young wine and also once it's old. This is a wine that melts in your mouth. Just put your nose into this - its positively erotic for a Cabernet fancier. Red fruits, some hints of liquorice, beautiful cedary oak, cassis, blackcurrant and violets. Medium bodied, firm but very fine. Beautiful shape and structure. Impeccable tannin. Length to burn. Just bottled but it shines. Top wine. Some tobaccoey cabernet flavours on exit. Not heavy. Classic.”

CAMPBELL MATTINSON AND GARY WALSH, THE BIG RED WINE BOOK 2010 and 11 - 01-06-2010
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