Funny story with this wine and how it got its name. Karl was the young winemaker in charge of the first vintage back in 2011 and had developed an unpopular reputation amongst his cellar hands. Why? Well, during the fermentation process, he expected the cellar hands to hand plunge the grapes more frequently than other winemakers did. To spite him, they named their wine plungers ‘Karl’s Scepter’. Luckily for Karl, his insistence on excessive hand plunging rewarded him in spades as it brought out additional colour, richness and character to his Cabernet Sauvignon, which was needed for the cool, wet 2011 vintage. Thanks to the success of his technique, the increased use of Karl’s Scepter became the norm for all future vintages.
Fast forward to 2022 and Karl’s Scepter is still in use for the fermentation process of this tasty Coonawarra Cabernet. After fermentation, the wine spends 18 months in French and American Oak before bottling. A deep ruby colour in my glass, this has notes of cassis, ripe plums, thyme, eucalyptus and cedar on the nose. A smooth, medium bodied Cabernet with balanced acidity, plush tannins and lots of ripe blackberries, black currants, plum, cedar, baking spices and pepper on the finish.
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