2018 Robert Oatley Finisterre Cabernet Sauvignon, Great Southern

This comes from the Justin Vineyard and 40-year-old vines. A shiny, elegant cabernet of choc-berry, choc-mint, black olive and clove spice with some espresso elements and a touch of mint in the bouquet. The palate is all plums and cassis with more black olive and clove, quite toasty, dusty elements and a touch of turned earth. It feels refined and shows decent length, a good squeeze of tannin if not, again, toasty and twiggy, with a slightly lemony finish, albeit forgivable. A lustrous example of the variety.

92 points Mike Bennie winecompanion.com.au

Robert Oatley Finisterre Cabernet Sauvignon from Great Southern is a finely sculpted and quietly powerful wine that captures the elegance of Western Australia’s coolest and most remote premium wine region. The Finisterre range, meaning “end of the earth,” focuses on single-varietal, single-region wines that reflect the most distinctive vineyard sites, and this Cabernet is a standout — structured, poised and unmistakably refined.

Sourced from Mount Barker and surrounding sites in the Great Southern, this Cabernet benefits from gravelly lateritic soils, cooling ocean breezes and long, dry growing seasons. These conditions allow for slow, even ripening of Cabernet Sauvignon, giving the wine its hallmark balance of ripe cassis fruit, fine tannin and lifted herbal complexity. It’s a region where Cabernet doesn’t get overripe — it stays composed, fresh and beautifully aromatic.

Winemaking is overseen by Larry Cherubino, one of the country’s most talented and respected winemakers. His approach with Finisterre is minimal intervention with maximal precision. The fruit is handpicked, fermented in small batches with gentle extraction, and matured in tight-grain French oak barriques, typically around 30 to 40 percent new, for 12 to 14 months. The oak use is subtle and supportive, adding finesse without overshadowing the purity of the fruit.

In the glass, the wine shows deep crimson hues and a nose of blackcurrant, bay leaf, dark chocolate, cedar and graphite. The palate is medium to full-bodied with fine, gravelly tannins, a core of dark berry fruit, and layered notes of tobacco, earth and dried sage. There’s both generosity and restraint — a classic Cabernet in the best sense, with length, focus and excellent ageing potential.

Pair it with rosemary-crusted lamb rack, grilled ribeye with chimichurri, or wild mushroom and lentil pie. It will drink beautifully over the next 8 to 12 years.