2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon, Adelaide Hills, Australia
Tasting Notes
Grown from pristine, low-yielding vineyards in the South Australian wine region affectionately known as âThe Hillsâ, this particular vineyard occupies a warm spot in an otherwise cool region and is perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon.
Within your glass you will find a full range of Cabernet Sauvignon flavors. Blackberry to cigar box and everything in-between in the rippling, rolling joy this wine brings to your mouth.
Adelaide Hills
Bordered by the Barossa Valley to the North and McLaren Vale to the South, the Adelaide Hills region (affectionately known as âThe Hillsâ) is located in the Mount Lofty Ranges east of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. Stretching in a narrow band approximately 40 miles long, the vineyards are sited between 900â - 1200â altitude. The Hills is an elevated, cool-climate jewel between the two warmer lower-lying cousins. Representing only a tiny slice of the Aussie vineyard scene, The Hills have a disproportionate influence on the wine industry. Heavyweights like Penfolds and Petaluma rely on Hills fruit, as do tiny garagiste and natural wine producers. The common denominator is the pristine quality and screaming intensity of the fruit.
Specs
Appellation: Adelaide Hills, Australi
Vineyard: Amadio Kersbrook Vineyard, Block 1A
Single Vineyard, Estate Grown
Gluten-Free, Vegan Friendly
Alcohol: 14.9%
Whatâs Included
4-bottles:
4x 2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon, Adelaide Hills, Australia
Case:
12x 2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon, Adelaide Hills, Australia
It started 20 years ago with an opportunity to work for a craft brewer in Western Australia. Showing up in Australia with a degree from the University of California, a good work ethic, and a âcan doâ spirit was the perfect combination of right place right time. After three years down under, Kat moved back to the US, and her husband, Australian Rob McDonald quickly followed.
They founded Old Bridge Cellars and began importing the legendary Australian wines they both lovedâŠdâArenberg, Jasper Hill, Yarra Yaring, Leeuwin Estate. Along the way, Kat took a break and went to law school, they planted vineyards in both Australia and the Napa Valley and began making their own wines including the eponymous named Mak.
In 2008, they founded Art+Farm Wine in Napa. Art+Farm is home to their single vineyard wines the girls in the vineyard, their outrageous blends-The Messenger and their true varietals: Circadia.
Kat and Rob live in Napa with their two children and an odd-looking creature that is supposed to be a dog. Kat is a little obsessed with her heritage breed chickens and the eggs they lay and also her bees. Rob is obsessed with compost and growing the perfect tomato. Both are huge proponents of dry farming and see water as the single biggest factor in the future of agriculture.
Available States
CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, IA, MA, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, TN, TX, WA, WI
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon - $45 =Â 19.99%
Night-1 bottle was received mid afternoon, opened up around 5pm while we made some pizza. My 6 year old found out that you can put only meat on a pizza and thatâs now his favorite thing aside from dinosaurs of course.
I really donât drink much Aussie wine, and even less Aussie Cabernet. Wine was labeled at 14.9% alc. it poured a deep red/purple. Clear and free of sediment.
Initially very aromatic. Definitely a young cab, most black cherry, vanilla, and a bit of wood/oak, some wet gravel hanging in the background as well. Their seemed to be a little bit of funk that kinda showed up here and there but not always noticeable.
The wine as a bit heavy on the tongue, might have been the alcohol adding some weight here. Itâs not real noticeable in the nose but you can definitely tell it thereâs while tasting.
The wine is dry, full bodied. Maybe could have used a bit more acid but I wouldnât call it flabby either. Medium drying tannins are present but not overwhelming. Again itâs definitely full bodied, lots of cherry and maybe a little plum. No funk in the taste. A fair amount of wood again but itâs not an oak bomb.
I think this is enjoyable with food or without. Maybe it could have used a good steak but that wasnât in the menu.
Night -2, with a pork loin roast and potatoâs. This was again not an ideal pairing. Not terrible but not a real compliment. I found the wine had smoothed out further to reduce some of the things that stuck out a bit like oak and alcohol. A better well rounded bottle by night 2 for sure. Maybe slightly flabbier though.
Thanks for the opportunity casemates to this one on.
One good thing about UPS is that if you catch it in time, you can redirect a shipment. We were away for the weekend when I received an email from UPS about an âAdult Signatureâ package from WCC, but I was able to reschedule the delivery to the local UPS Store. Then I got an email from Alice indicating that this particular wine would be on Casemates on Monday, so I knew what we would be doing Sunday evening! Thank you Alice and WCC for another opportunity to do a LabRat report!
Upon opening the box I was intrigued to see that the wine was a very elegant looking bottle of Australian cabernet sauvignon. I have never been a fan of the run-of-the-mill Australian cabs, but this looked like something more and it turns out it was!
Color - deep, dark, intense garnet/ruby, but clear and sparkly. Long legs were quick to form and really lingered.
Nose - this is where things started getting a bit difficult for me. I was/am fully in the process of coming down with the first head cold Iâve had in over three years and my smell and taste senses are compromised. Luckily my wife had all of her competencies and this report is better for that. As far as I could tell, and she concurred, the smell was very consistent with lots of red fruit and maybe even a bit of fig. There was a slight sense of earthy spice and it was all very agreeable, but hard to distinguish individual components.
Taste - was also very pleasantly fruity, but also very, very dry. The tannins were very dominant and noticeable at all times, but not to the point of unpleasantness. There was also enough acid to know that this wine would go well with strong food tastes. Overall this was definitely a cabernet with all of those flavors, but also more robust than many. My wife could detect a nice nutty/woodiness as well. Very much on the dry side of the scale, but nice.
I grilled a piece of cajun spiced chicken and my wife had a piece of left over smothered chicken and we both thought everything worked together as it is supposed to. The food tamed the acid and tannins, though the dryness certainly persisted.
In summary, I now know that not all Australian cabs are the same. This is a distinct wine due to the dryness, but also it was evident that it was a very well made, complex cabernet sauvignon that we enjoyed quite a bit. Thanks again for the opportunity to taste!
@WCCWineGirl donât mean to hijack this thread but Iâm wondering if there has been any change in your email service? I havenât received reliable Casemates emails since early Feb. Checked in on my own today though sad to see IN not on the list this offering.
2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon, Adelaide Hills, Australia
Tasting Notes
Adelaide Hills
Specs
Whatâs Included
4-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
480.00/Case for 12x 2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon, Adelaide Hills, Australia at Art + Farm Wine
About The Winery
Available States
CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, IA, MA, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, TN, TX, WA, WI
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Apr 11 - Thursday, Apr 14
2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon
4 bottles for $74.99 $18.75/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $179.99 $15/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2018 The Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon - $45 =Â 19.99%
I enjoyed this over Friday and Saturday nights.
Night-1 bottle was received mid afternoon, opened up around 5pm while we made some pizza. My 6 year old found out that you can put only meat on a pizza and thatâs now his favorite thing aside from dinosaurs of course.
I really donât drink much Aussie wine, and even less Aussie Cabernet. Wine was labeled at 14.9% alc. it poured a deep red/purple. Clear and free of sediment.
Initially very aromatic. Definitely a young cab, most black cherry, vanilla, and a bit of wood/oak, some wet gravel hanging in the background as well. Their seemed to be a little bit of funk that kinda showed up here and there but not always noticeable.
The wine as a bit heavy on the tongue, might have been the alcohol adding some weight here. Itâs not real noticeable in the nose but you can definitely tell it thereâs while tasting.
The wine is dry, full bodied. Maybe could have used a bit more acid but I wouldnât call it flabby either. Medium drying tannins are present but not overwhelming. Again itâs definitely full bodied, lots of cherry and maybe a little plum. No funk in the taste. A fair amount of wood again but itâs not an oak bomb.
I think this is enjoyable with food or without. Maybe it could have used a good steak but that wasnât in the menu.
Night -2, with a pork loin roast and potatoâs. This was again not an ideal pairing. Not terrible but not a real compliment. I found the wine had smoothed out further to reduce some of the things that stuck out a bit like oak and alcohol. A better well rounded bottle by night 2 for sure. Maybe slightly flabbier though.
Thanks for the opportunity casemates to this one on.
@CorTot thank you for the rattage
A useless blurb from Wine Access:
@kaolis agreedâŠsomewhat useless
@kaolis @kitkat34 the wine has a masculine tone, though! How else would we have discovered that??
Art+Farm Wine
The Messenger â Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Adelaide Hills â Amadio Kersbrook Vinyard
Block 1A - 614
One good thing about UPS is that if you catch it in time, you can redirect a shipment. We were away for the weekend when I received an email from UPS about an âAdult Signatureâ package from WCC, but I was able to reschedule the delivery to the local UPS Store. Then I got an email from Alice indicating that this particular wine would be on Casemates on Monday, so I knew what we would be doing Sunday evening! Thank you Alice and WCC for another opportunity to do a LabRat report!
Upon opening the box I was intrigued to see that the wine was a very elegant looking bottle of Australian cabernet sauvignon. I have never been a fan of the run-of-the-mill Australian cabs, but this looked like something more and it turns out it was!
Color - deep, dark, intense garnet/ruby, but clear and sparkly. Long legs were quick to form and really lingered.
Nose - this is where things started getting a bit difficult for me. I was/am fully in the process of coming down with the first head cold Iâve had in over three years and my smell and taste senses are compromised. Luckily my wife had all of her competencies and this report is better for that. As far as I could tell, and she concurred, the smell was very consistent with lots of red fruit and maybe even a bit of fig. There was a slight sense of earthy spice and it was all very agreeable, but hard to distinguish individual components.
Taste - was also very pleasantly fruity, but also very, very dry. The tannins were very dominant and noticeable at all times, but not to the point of unpleasantness. There was also enough acid to know that this wine would go well with strong food tastes. Overall this was definitely a cabernet with all of those flavors, but also more robust than many. My wife could detect a nice nutty/woodiness as well. Very much on the dry side of the scale, but nice.
I grilled a piece of cajun spiced chicken and my wife had a piece of left over smothered chicken and we both thought everything worked together as it is supposed to. The food tamed the acid and tannins, though the dryness certainly persisted.
In summary, I now know that not all Australian cabs are the same. This is a distinct wine due to the dryness, but also it was evident that it was a very well made, complex cabernet sauvignon that we enjoyed quite a bit. Thanks again for the opportunity to taste!
@cdgrimm thank you for reporting
@WCCWineGirl donât mean to hijack this thread but Iâm wondering if there has been any change in your email service? I havenât received reliable Casemates emails since early Feb. Checked in on my own today though sad to see IN not on the list this offering.
Hey,
Winemaker Rob McDonald here if anybody has any questions.
@ArtFarmWine
So, you shipped the grapes from âDown Underâ and made the wine at your winery here?
@winecaseaholic No I made the wine in Australia and then shipped the finished wine over here in the bottles.
@ArtFarmWine @winecaseaholic picked this up in the mystery case and just tried it tonight
One of the best cabs Iâve ever had! Yum
Need more bottles