Wine by Thoms Coonawarra Cabernet

n the vintage of 2022, I had a side project with my good friend Iain Thomas Sandler (ISWine in NSW) making some Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon when I came across an extremely interesting vineyard in the middle of the famed Coonawarra terra rossa soil. The vineyard is quite closely planted with the rows only being just over a metre wide and the vines trained onto two cordon wires with one vine trained low then the next on the higher wire. It was so interesting to see this setup right in the middle of all the other “same same” planted vines on the main road that runs through the heart of the Coonawarra.

The grapes were harvested in the cool of the night and then transported up to the CWCo winery in Marananga (Barossa Valley) where we transferred them into open fermenters for fermentation. No additions occured with this wine (no acid or tannin etc), it was basket pressed to old seasoned oak for 12 months and then blended and bottled fresh with out fining or filtration so its a pure representation of the vineyard from that moment in time.

Needless to say this is the first of two releases from this vineyard, this first one is a more juicy vibrant, nouveau style of Coonawarra Cabernet and the second will be a more traditional style built for aging and longevity.

Wine by Thoms is derived from my first name (obviously) and Iain’s middle name and is a bit of a play on the term “Somms” short term for Sommeliere.