Passel Estate wins gold in 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards

It is with great excitement to share with you that our 2017 Passel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon has been awarded a GOLD medal in the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards.

In this exceptional year, judging of the 17th edition of the Decanter World Wine Awards took place over 28 consecutive days.  The judging panel blind tasted and evaluated 16,518 wines, with only 537 gold medals awarded.

Tasting notes from the expert team at Decanter, for Passel Estate’s 2017  Cabernet Sauvignon include:

“Smoky black fruit nose. The palate is well-balanced and nicely textured with seamless tannins and pleasant notes of dark, damp woods, cassis and oak spice. A dark horse, not showy but quietly going very well.”

Our old-vine Houghton clone cabernet Sauvignon fruit was harvested, and the berries split. After a cool 14-day ferment on skins with multiple, yet gentle daily pump overs, the wine was gently separated from the skins and transferred straight to French Oak barriques, 35% of which were new. The wine was matured for 10 months in oak, before being lightly fined, filtered and bottled.

The Decanter Awards are one of the world’s most revered accolades a wine can gather, so it is a great testament to the beautiful terroir and nurturing of our vines, along with the expert craftsmanship they receive once they reach the winery and our winemaking team.