When it comes to varietals and wine, deep down inside I reckon each one of us has a favorite; Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon is undoubtedly mine. It is as unique and distinctive as the more famous Shiraz, but for me, there is so much more going on. The flavour spectrum encompasses an absolute treasure box of licorice, red and black summer berries, anise fennel spice box and chocolate. In my (biased) opinion, few things can match the poise of full flight Barossa Cabernet...
Six Bottle Case $300.00 | Dozen Price $570.00
Production:
8 small open ferments ranging in size from 580Kg to 650Kg from our ‘Home Blocks - Horse Paddock, House on the Hill and Bultawilta
Total production 1800 bottles
Colour:
Rich and deep red with a brooding dark core
Nose:
Great Barossa Cabernet varietals- Piercing red berry and black currant over dark chocolate, licorice savory leather and cedar notes. Plenty of fragrant dark fruits.
Palate:
Vibrant cassis and savory strap liquorice. Rich mid palate with gentle warmth and fine elegant tannins. Great length with a slathering of rich lingering chocolate flavours coating the mouth
Philosophy:
October 2026 draws to a close as I write the label for the 2021 Georgie’s Walk release. A heck of a lot has happened since I last recorded my ‘Georgie thoughts’ on glass. Georgie and Turner very successfully presented the next generation to the world in June last year. Their son Rome, unsurprisingly is a magnificent addition to the family and we are all, of course, smitten. Georgie has always sent me to ‘wow town’ as the most capable human I know, and her approach to her pregnancy definitely made this dad’s heart burst with pride. Not only did she make all the 2025 vintage wines for me - I was there but it was all her - she also worked ( and I mean WORKED ) right up until two weeks before Rome arrived. The wines she made in the ‘25 vintage were some of the best we’ve seen - full stop! That’s an ultimate high five as a father; when you see your kids take what they’ve learned from you… mix it up with their own ideas and smash it for six! It’s also awesome to swap roles and come back to seeing our wines through her eyes and be a student in a way again. When she headed off to give birth, she left a bemused father wondering how we were going to fill that Georgie sized hole! Of course, we got by… life is like that, but we sorely missed the Georgie Powerhouse steering the ship.
The other ‘holyfuckme’ event was at the end of ‘25 when I got the late-night call to get on a plane and receive the ultimate gift of a new set of lungs. Georgie and Turner and Alex dropped everything (except for Rome) and came over to Melbourne to be by my side. Ben was in Mexico and gutted to not be able to be a part of it, but his spirit and FaceTime meant he was there too. That moment post operative, when they dial back the Drugs to the point you realise ‘you’ve survived’ momentarily feels like the ultimate. But opening your eyes and seeing your kids there is when you truly understand that everything truly important in life is actually there in the room.
It’s been 18 months since we released the 2018 and FYI - in case you were wondering about skipping to ‘21 - we decided put extra of the ‘18’s into glass & to not bottle much of the ‘19’s or ‘20’s. 2019 was a tricky vintage and I wasn’t happy with the way it looked out of barrel. Experience shows that given another 5 years it will be delicious, so we’ve just tucked enough away for a cellar release. 2020 was a different ‘gift’ around the same time of ‘Black Frost’ which again smashed our yields on (of course) the critical blocks, so for different but the same reason have been able to just put enough away for a cellar release in another 4-5 years - the’20’s were delicious… but volumetrically, the die was cast and no stock to release.
Anyone who has heard what I’ve espoused over the last 28 years of winemaking, knows that Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon is my nirvana. Whilst not always what the purists hold up as their holy grail, I’d invariably choose the Barossa iteration against the best the rest of the world offers up with a firm hand and clear eye. 2021 was an amazing year, right across the board. The Bordeaux Varieties in particular were incredibly lifted and aromatic, with a beautiful structure and weight. Following on from two very low yielding years, the winter leading up to the 2021 harvest saw good rains that filled the soil profile and set the vines up perfectly. Spring was very benign with bud burst and flowering beautifully even and the crucial growing season so good you’d think we’d ordered it direct from the catalogue. In 2021, the ‘Horse Paddock’ Cabernet Block was once again the central driver behind the Georgie’s Walk, with our House on the Hill and Bultawilta blocks playing supporting roles. The fruit started its journey to your glass on the 8th of April 2021 with all three blocks picked on the same day, chock full of freshness, plenty of natural acidity and rocking wonderfully silky tannins. The 2021 Georgie’s Walk was handmade in 8 small open ferments ranging in size from 580Kg to 650Kg. Each batch was hand plunged three times a day during ferment before being basket pressed after just over 40 days on skins. The wine was then filled with full lees to a mix of new and seasoned oak for 36 months maturation. After final blending, 1800 bottles of the 2021 Georgie’s Walk Cabernet Sauvignon were bottled in Mid November 2025 and released in November 2026 as a 6-and-a-half-year-old wine. Team david Franz have, as always, finished the bottle with the hand printed love we would never let it leave home without. Enjoy and Cheers!
