2021 Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Cabernet Franc
Buy This Wine
The Crayères Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2021 is the seventh vintage of our Cabernet Franc dominant wines.
The mild 2021 vintage conditions provided the perfect framework to produce high quality fruit for our Crayères Vineyard Cabernet Franc. We added a minimal 9% Shiraz to the final blend in order to lift the middle palate, and the result is a very classic Cabernet Franc wine with floral aromas and very fine Shiraz black fruit on the mid palate.
This vineyard has been baptised the Crayères Vineyard, after the chalk cellars that are found throughout Xavier’s region of birth in Champagne, France. Similar natural structures are found underneath this very special vineyard, and they are now the subject of a research project led by a team from the University of Adelaide as they are full of undisturbed ancient fossilised remains.
The Crayères vineyard is located next to Tapanappa’s Whalebone Vineyard, at the top of a north-south limestone ridge in Wrattonbully, one of Australia’s most exciting regions. The Terra Rossa top-soil is characteristic of the area. This part of the vineyard was planted on rootstocks in 2008, using cuttings from the neighbouring Whalebone Vineyard and French clones, and at a relatively high density for the area (4,444 vines per hectare, similar to the density of vineyards in Saint Emilion). The fruiting wire is only 50cm above ground, which is why the local vignerons call the vines the “low vines”.
Read more about the Crayères Vineyard.
- “Lovely fruit complexity and mineral length.” 96+ points – Andrew Caillard
- “A classic wine that exceeds its price point” 91 Points – Erin Larkin | Robert Parker Wine Advocate
- “A wine with detail and complexity and of superb value.” 95 Points – Shanteh Wale | Wine Companion
- “A wonderful drink.” 94 Points – Mike Bennie | Wine Business Magazine
- “Provides considerable drinking pleasure” 4 Stars – Lester Jesberg | winewise.net.au
- “It’s meticulously made and has the restraint and elegance” – WineWorthWritingAbout
- “Bright drive through the impressive tannin layers.” 93 points – Regan Drew | Vino Notebook
- “An impressive representation of Cabernet Franc” 94 points – Patrick Eckel | Wine Reviewer
- “Beautifully made, and lovely to drink.” 94 points – Gary Walsh | The Wine Front
- “Super fragrant ” – 94(95)/100 or 9/10 | Tim White
