Hickinbotham Clarendon Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 (6x 750mL).

James Halliday

97 Points

Grown on a vineyard planted in '71. This is a superb cabernet. Dusty, dry and herbal but awash with sweet, boysenberried, blackcurrant-drenched fruit. It lays down oodles of flavour, not to mention tannin, but it's fragrant and frisky at the same time. One sip and you can't let go; it has you in its thrall.

James Halliday Wine Companion 2021, 1 August, 2020

Andrew Graham

96 Points

Irrepressibly Fine Wine... Mag-bloody-nificent. This Hickinbotham Vineyard Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is irrepressibly fine wine. The Porsche 911 of the McLaren Vale Cabernet world. And not just 4S – this is Turbo level. Actually, I watched a flyover video of the Hickinbotham Vineyard after tasting this. My interest was piqued, on the hunt for more, the rhetorical question of why and how floating around inside my head. And there, as the drone flew over the dam (at about the 2 minute mark), with the contour plantings and the gumtrees dotting the hills, it all clicks into place. A speccy vineyard, informed winemaking (hello Pete Fraser & Chris Carpenter), uncompromised quality. This Cabernet is a reflection of it all. A gloriously ambitious, full-tilt Australian red of power and sophistication, its cues clearly coming from Napa (or at least I think so), but the expensive and delicious Napa mode rather than the tacky/overdone/15% alcohol/$250 Merlot one. Matured for 15 months in 75% new Bordeaux coopered barrels. Trueman is an oaky wine. But sexy oak. The type of oak that you need to write big cheques for every year. The oak that, when you have fruit power, just folds in as another layer. Cool, ripe, sophisticated, classy Cab with no sharp bits, fine tannins, the cocoa powder oak woven through nose and palate. Contextually, it’s more Margaret River than Coonawarra, more Napa than Bordeaux, and coiffed and finely tannic and bold all the way. Very very good.

Andrew Graham, ozwinereview.com, 18 August, 2020

Gary Walsh

95 Points

I think this is maybe the best Trueman I can recall tasting. It’s true, man. There’s certainly a Napa-esque lushness about this, and the Cabernet Franc. Dark chocolate, ripe blackberry, flowers, garden herbs, spicy biscuit oak. It’s full-bodied, but not heavy, a flood of dark and persuasive flavour, cocoa richness of tannin, baking spices and sage, and a powerful finish, layered in with sweet tannin and surprising freshness. Exemplary Cabernet here. 95+ Points.

The Wine Front, 16 July, 2020

Nick Stock

94 Points

Intense aromas of ripe dark berries, purple olives, violets, intense cedary oak, forest wood, leather and tobacco. The palate is dense, concentrated and packed with dark-berry flavors. Bold tannin chew. Needs time for the oak and tannin to settle in. Try from 2024.

jamessuckling.com, 27 May, 2020