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Description
This pack is a snapshot of Corymbia doing what they do best: growing honest fruit and getting out of the way. From their windswept Calgardup vineyard near Redgate Beach to the old Rocket’s site in the Swan Valley, these are wines rooted in place, made with restraint and clarity.
The 2023 Calgardup Cabernet shows just how far that site has come - pure, detailed and refreshingly unadorned. The Rocket’s Tempranillo Malbec hums with energy and spice, and the first-ever Cabernet Franc is all perfume, texture and lift. No makeup, no overthinking. Just beautifully made WA reds from people who know what they’re doing.
- 2023 Corymbia Calgardup Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2023 Corymbia Rocket's Vineyard Tempranillo Malbec
- 2023 Corymbia Cabernet Franc
2023 Corymbia Calgardup Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2023 Calgardup Vineyard Cabernet marks the fifth release from Corymbia’s Margaret River site, and it’s the clearest picture yet of what this vineyard is capable of. Just a couple of kilometres from Redgate Beach, the site sits on old granite and gravel soils, organically farmed and ringed by native bushland. It's not the standard blueprint for Margaret River Cabernet, and that’s exactly the point.
Rob and Genevieve Mann have opted for a lean, detail-focused expression here - low-intervention winemaking, 100% hand-sorted fruit, and long ageing in large, neutral oak. No new wood, no gloss. Just unadorned, coastal Cabernet with purity and poise. It’s bright and tightly wound in youth, layered with leafy aromatics and fine-boned tannin, built for long life without the usual weight and flash.
It’s easy to overstate wines like this, but here the restraint speaks louder than anything. A fresh take from people who know the old playbook inside out. Simply stunning.
98 points
"Aromatic and layered with cassis, milk chocolate, nori and cracked pepper. Elegant, finely milled tannins and brilliant old oak élevage—this is a statement Cabernet."
- Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)
95 points
"Juicy, sea spray-scented Cabernet with redcurrant, raspberry, aniseed and umami. Crisp, saline finish and oak-free clarity make it a standout."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
95 points
"Violets, cassis, mulberry and nori with velvety tannins and ironstone grip. No new oak, just fruit precision, umami depth and ageable structure."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
2023 Corymbia Rocket's Vineyard Tempranillo Malbec
The Corymbia Red Blend is a wine that reflects its origins perfectly and offers so much.
With a combination of natural and carbonic fermentation, there is a lovely interplay between the dark and dense tones – blackberry, coffee, olive, earth, leather – and the extremely bright ones – mulberry, cranberry, blueberry, and aniseed.
With maturation taking place in the same vat used for the fermentation, the aromas and flavours having a feel of slow evolution, unlocked by letting the wine breathe for a while before drinking.
Whether you drink it now or in a few years, you're definitely in for a treat.
95 points
"Love this drink as it’s savoury, spicy, intriguing, delicious and more. A perfect counterplay between acidity and tannins, fruit and savoury inputs... It’s a joyful drink. Uplifting, and this ’23 the best to date."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
95 points
"Plenty of exotic spice, liquorice, walnut, new leather, cherry, blueberry, seaweed. Medium-bodied, a lovely grainy grip and chew to tannin, cherry, boysenberry and a pippy freshness to acidity, suffused with a ferrous and ‘mineral’ feel, umami and nutty, with a bright and flavoursome finish of excellent length. Texture. Charisma. Such a good wine."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
95 points
"It’s nimble and contemporary, considerate of where it comes from, and looking into the future from a platform built by the generations that came before. Fragrant dark fruit, finely sculpted flesh, a gravelly tannin grip. The Swan Valley’s past and future in the one bottle."
- Nick Ryan (The Weekend Australian)
93 points
"On the nose, the wine is lifted, floral and aromatic, with rose petals, honeysuckle, blackberry, black cherry, pink peppercorn and a hint of petrichor. In the mouth, the wine is detailed but very fine. The tannins speak so eloquently of the conditions and create an almost febrile web of support and texture in the mouth, with graphite and ash, dried lavender and bone broth. It is a distinct single-vineyard wine that offers nuance and balance."
- Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)
2023 Corymbia Cabernet Franc
The 2023 release marks the first time Rob and Gen Mann have bottled Cabernet Franc on its own - and with just 50 dozen made, it’s not something you’ll see often. This tiny parcel sits in the most sheltered pocket of their organically farmed Calgardup vineyard, just inland from Redgate Beach. In 2023, the vines gave them just 800kg of fruit, but what little they had was too good to blend away.
Hand-harvested, berry-sorted and naturally fermented in two old demi-muids, the wine was then matured in a single seasoned puncheon for ten months. It’s a medium-bodied, savoury take on Franc that’s all about finesse over flash. You get perfume, spice, and that trademark Margaret River sea spray note, wrapped around fine, gently chewy tannins.
This is a seriously characterful wine from a producer quietly doing things their own way. Keep your eyes out - there won’t be much to go around.
95 points
"Dark fruit, florals and Margaret River seaweed character. Pulses with energy, elegant yet plush with beautiful tannins. A rare Aussie cab franc gem."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
94 points
"Dried flowers, black tea, licorice, bay leaf and nori with ashy hints. Supple, chewy and earthy with brilliant tannic flow and concentration."
- Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)
94 points
"Raspberry, cherry pip, pomegranate and umami kombu with grilled hazelnut and blood orange. Saline, savoury, minerally and distinctly characterful."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
