8 Rows Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed within 3 to 7 years from vintage release to appreciate its vibrant fruit character and soft tannins.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted lamb chops, classic beef bolognese, grilled portobello mushrooms.
✨ Technical Specifications
Brokenwood's 8 Rows Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot represents the winery's talent for crafting highly approachable, balanced, and food-friendly wines that showcase classic Australian blending traditions. While Brokenwood is deeply rooted in the Hunter Valley, this cuvée often draws on premium fruit from established maritime and cool-climate regions across South Australia to achieve its signature plushness and structure. The name 8 Rows pays homage to the micro-selection of specific vineyard rows chosen for their optimal sun exposure and balanced yields. The wine undergoes traditional fermentation followed by maturation in seasoned French and American oak barriques, resulting in a harmonious marriage of Cabernet's structured blackcurrant and mint notes with Merlot's soft, fleshy plum characters. It is a testament to Brokenwood's philosophy of minimal intervention, delivering an elegant everyday red with excellent varietal expression.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1970 by Sydney solicitors James Halliday, John Beeston, and Tony Albert, Brokenwood Wines began on a ten-acre Pokolbin parcel initially intended as a cricket ground. Situated in the lower Hunter Valley against the Brokenback Mountain Range, the estate operates on alluvial loams and heavy clay soils, shaped by a warm, humid subtropical climate with cooling maritime breezes. While historically anchored by its renowned Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, Brokenwood established equivalent global renown for its pure, cellar-worthy white wines. The estate practices certified viticulture under Sustainable Winegrowing Australia standards, supervised in cellar operations by Chief Winemaker Stuart Hordern following Iain Riggs's transformative tenure. Renowned benchmark expressions include the single-vineyard and aged ILR Reserve Semillon—celebrated for low-alcohol tension, racy citrus acidity, and nuanced toast developments without oak maturation—alongside single-site iterations like Stanleigh Park Vineyard Semillon and cool-climate chardonnays from Beechworth and Orange.
🍇 Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot