Our Wines

Wine Pertaringa’s Rifle and Hunt Cabernet is so named as the vineyard and cellars are on the corner of Rifle Range and Hunt Roads, McLaren Vale. The best fruit from the maritime McLaren Vale Hunt and Rifle vineyard is in some vintages augmented with finer, more tightly structured cooler climate Cabernet from the Adelaide Hills. Although officially from another region the K1 vineyard at Kuitpo, also owned by Pertaringa principal Geoff Hardy, is only a few miles away as the crow flies. Traditionally vinified and aged in the best new French oak, Pertaringa is most confident that Rifle & Hunt will cellar well as have previous vintages. 

2007 Vintage The 2007 vintage was extremely dry due to the drought that was gripping Australia at this time and harvest occurred 3 weeks earlier than normal. It goes without saying that Cabernet was in the same boat as most of our red varieties with yields extremely low. Vintage conditions prompted us to have a look at our ‘old recipe book’, which indicated to exploit some cooler climate fruit to enhance the overall structure of the wine. Do we sound too biased if we would call it the best Rifle & Hunt Cabernet we have made to date? We hope not - but you will be the judge!

Tasting Note This exuberant inky red wine is a rich Cabernet Sauvignon displaying Christmas cake characters including cinnamon, nutmeg and spice on the nose. The palate exhibits complex blackberry, ripe blackcurrant fruit with hints of chocolate and truffle underscored by earthy nuances. The wine is powerful yet restrained with a superb viscosity held by silky tannins. Drink now until 2020.