2012 Cabernet Sauvignon

This is another strong set of wines from Steve Pride and his long-time winemaker Sally Johnson. When it comes to the reds, Pride releases later than most other estates, so in many cases the 2012s are the current releases. Pride and Johnson describe 2012 as a leisurely growing season, with no heat spikes or rain events in the critical days and weeks leading up to harvest. As always, the Pride wines offer notable richness and ripeness allied to mountain structure. Although the wines are often quite flashy when young, in my experience the flagship Claret and Vintner Select wines need at least a few years to develop their aromatics and blossom in bottle.