Woodlands Cabernet Franc Merlot ‘Emily’ 2020

Founders David Watson and wife Heather had spectacular success with the cabernets he made in ’79 and the early ’80s. Commuting from Perth while raising a family became too much and for some years the grapes from Woodlands were sold to other Margaret River producers. With the advent of sons Stuart and Andrew in ’02–05 (Stuart primarily responsible for winemaking), the estate bounced back to pre-eminence, expanding with the purchase of the 17ha Woodlands Brook Vineyard in ’07. The top-end wines primarily come from the original Woodlands Vineyard, where the now-certified organic vines are 50+yr.

Woodlands has been producing ‘Emily’ since 1989. Woodlands had almost ceased production at the time, and almost all of the Cabernet Sauvignon fruit was sold each year. David Watson and his great friend Peter Anderson discussed what to do with the remaining Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, and a little Cabernet Sauvignon. The idea came to make a “right bank” Saint-Émilion blend and call it “Emily”. When the decision was made to purchase the Woodlands Brook Vineyard, we certainly believed its existing plantings to be serendipitous – no Cabernet Sauvignon (yet), but there was Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot planted on a gentle north facing slope of sandy loam.  So, from 2008 ‘Emily’ became both our expression of the “right bank” blend, and the expression of that site at Woodlands Brook. This wine is made in very limited quantities, with only 300 cases being able to be produced each year. Woodlands believe that 2016 may go down in history as Margaret River’s greatest vintage. A perfect warm summer was interrupted by 90mm of rain in mid January, after which the great conditions continued. Our unirrigated vines loved the drink, and went on to produce wines of class and restrained power, balanced by great natural acidity. Like all red wines at Woodlands, this wine was destemmed and sorted by our gravity fed system. Once harvested and in the winery, the fruit was delivered to the destemmer by a vibrating hopper, where the stems are removed by a swinging motion. Once destemmed, the fruit passed over a vibrating sorting table. Following fermentation this wine was matured in French oak barrels for 14 months, of which forty percent were new.

Winefront

Woodlands Cabernet Franc Merlot ‘Emily’ 2020 – 94+ / 100 Points

It’s been a little while between drinks on the Emily front round here. Black and red fruit, floral notes, a little peppermint, toasty spicy oak. Medium-bodied, savoury and juicy at once, fine boned with grainy tannin and pencil flavours, fresh finish with a bit of grip. Very good

– Campbell Mattinson