Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

97 POINTS

Huon Hooke - The Real Review

Deep, intense, youthful red/purple colour, the bouquet gorgeously loaded with blue and black fruit aromas, blackberry, blackcurrant and blueberry, with a lacing of violets. The wine is full-bodied and extremely elegant, with perfect ripeness, beautifully modulated fruit and tannins, and subtle oak handling. A thoroughly delicious cabernet, accessible right now but with the potential to mature gracefully for many years. Winemaker Chris Carpenter thinks this is his best cabernet yet. (2650 cases made)

96 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

Hand-picked, destemmed but whole berries, open fermented on skins 18 days, basket-pressed, only free-run juice, new and 1 year old Bordeaux barrels, aged 15 months. It's tempting to pour a glass immediately and savour it, for everything from the fruit, cedary oak, tannins to its acidity are in total balance.

95 POINTS

Toni Paterson MW - The Real Review

An open and slightly warming aroma with cranberry, redcurrant and rhubarb aromatics. The palate has excellent density on the front and mid-palate, and the length is impressive. Fine tannins are abundant, and the wine has a long cellaring life ahead of it.

93 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

Tasted alongside Cullen Vanya 2012, Mount Mary Quintet 2015, Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 2015, Woodlands Heather Jean 2010, Penley Estate Helios 2016, Balnaves The Tally 2010, Wirra Wirra Dead Ringer 2015 – stiff competition. It certainly meant a pace was set. This quite distinct from most of the more ‘restrained’ wines in that mix, overt, bright, sweeter fruit, less tannin, one could say. This is the ranking for me – Cullen Vanya 2012, Mount Mary Quintet 2015, Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 2015, Woodlands Heather Jean 2010, Penley Estate Helios 2016, Hickinbotham Trueman 2016, Balnaves The Tally 2010, Wirra Wirra Dead Ringer 2015, with YY and Woodlands very close to equal, and let’s say a little gap after Penley to the next three. That does say a lot about the pedigree of all the wines, however. Has this sweet, candied fruit character rolling through the wine, like jubes or something similar, but also let’s chime in with black jelly beans. Scents show some savouriness, earth, clove, dried leaves, but liquorice and blackcurrant essence is there too. There’s a good swish of grippy, fine, stony tannins but that sweeter fruit character is the main program. Also, mint, green herb, saline flavours. It’s long, medium weight, fresh feeling in character. It’s a pretty cabernet.

93 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Fair bit of gum leaf perfume, and a truffle and flower water pong, mocha, blackcurrant and blackberry. It's medium bodied, with a blend of sweet black fruit and undergrowth and savoury things, a touch meaty and the like, but with fleshy tannin and a solid finish. A little old school in its delivery but very nice, and almost certainly age-worthy.'