2021 Houghton Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon

98 POINTS

Halliday Wine Companion

Cabernet sauvignon of the Year. Score awarded by the Halliday tasting panel at the annual Awards judging. MB writes: This is elegance personified. So smooth, so luscious, so rich and yet it finds levity and a sense of drive. Inky cassis, lavender and violet floral lift, fancy feeling mahogany and new leather elements, clove spice, bay leaf and faint sea spray characters in the mix. It feels quite tightly wound despite its velvety suppleness and flow, tannins in a web of fine, graphite-like mineral accents delivering tension and poise. It's a wine that delivers an experience and visceral pleasure. Drink now after a lusty decant, but save some for long cellaring, too.

97 POINTS

Regan Drew - Winepilot

The Icon release from Houghton’s Justin vineyard. Deep and profound with serious black and purple fruits over fresh turned earth, savoury black olive, liqueur cherry, baked blackberry tart, dried violets, a hint of graphite pencil and grated cooking chocolate richness. Mouth-filling black fruits with intense power and a firm grip. Lingering vanilla oak and mint varietal hints lead to opulence, class and balance with immediate appeal and a knowing structure of a 20 plus year cellaring.

96 POINTS

Ray Jordan

One of he most elegant of any Jack Mann release, being a product of this cooler vintage in Frankland River. Comes from the famous Justin vineyard in Frankland. Aromas of blackcurrant and light cedar with other notes of leaf and violet. Lovely medium to full bodied fruit on the palate with fine silky tannins and an ample hit of supporting oak. Structurally firm but with expressive elegance.

96 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

This is an outstanding wine. It’s firm, it’s rich, it’s commanding. The palate is silk and the fruit is juicy but herbs are driven through and there’s genuine weight, not to mention impact. Blackcurrant, vanilla cream, tobacco, cedar and those strings of herbs. The (creamy) texture and wealth of flavour get you in, but it’s the tannin and the length that stays with you.

96 POINTS

Andrew Caillard MW - The Vintage Journal

Very well-balanced wine with dense blackcurrant pastille, hint elderberry fruits, superb grainy firm and sinuous tannins, lovely mid palate volume and integrated cedar/ mocha complexity.

94 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2021 Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon (with 3% Malbec) is herbal and leafy. The tannins are scratchy but pliable, with tobacco and plums, mulberry and aniseed/licorice. Heavy sorting went into the wine, both in the vineyard and the winery. It's balanced and fresh and sits well in the mouth. The 2021 vintage was challenging due to intermittent rain throughout the growing season. It meant that the work in the vineyard was labor intensive and necessary.

94 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Winepilot

The 2021 Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon is young but quite stunning, and a powerhouse built for the long haul. It radiates with inky, blueberry aromas topped by a strong seam of dried herbs and new oak. Dry, muscular and tannic to start, it impressively delivers with both fruit power and subtlety, and is just starting to break out and strut its stuff. An excellent vintage that has plenty to offer the patient.

93 POINTS

2024 - Decanter World Wine Awards

Seductive and aromatic, with cassis, black pepper and mint leading to a palate of dark plummy fruit and supple tannins. Award: Silver - DWWA 2024