One of the inevitabilities of being a Bordeaux-focused wine writer is that I have a sideline in ‘Things That Happened in 1855’.

There’s the Burgundy classification of climats put together by Dr Jules Lavalle, which arguably had an even greater long-term impact on its region than the Bordeaux version that was unveiled in the Paris Exposition that same year.

Scroll down for Jane Anson’s Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon tasting notes and scores

Then there’s the publication of Tennyson’s Hiawatha; the National Theatre production of this was a key moment for me growing up.

The same also saw the death of Charlotte Bronte and the unfolding of the Great Gold Robbery that would be named one of the ‘most audacious crime[s] of the century’.

In a weird (or appropriate) coincidence, the crime took place on a London train bound for Paris on 15 May, the same day that the Exposition Universelle opened on the Champs Elysée that would usher in the Bordeaux wine ranking.

But it was only a few months ago, care of the brilliant Andrew Caillard MW, that I discovered several Australian wines were also awarded medals at the Paris exhibition in 1855.

Among them were Tomago, Irrawang and Camden Wines made by, respectively, Richard Windeyer, James King and William Macarthur.

The last two had their wines served to Napoleon III at the closing ceremony. Macarthur was then 55 years old, and went to Paris to accompany the wine and watch the jury at work with the tastings.

It meant that he was there to witness the wines’ success, writing to King that a judge remarked, ‘We were all perfectly astonished at the quality of the Australian wine… placing them in strength and flavour between the wines of Madeira and those of the Côtes du Rhone.’

Even Queen Victoria stopped by the New South Wales stand and asked Macarthur if she could taste the wines – to which he reports with evident delight replying, ‘certainly your Majesty’.

All of this publicity meant that 25,000 gallons (around 95,000 litres) of Australian wine was imported into Britain in 1855, and two years later The Times newspaper wrote, ‘in a few years we hope to see the names of Camden Park, Irrawang, Tomago (…) rank as high… as Lafitte [sic], Latour, Château Margaux’.

The full list of grape varieties shown is not exactly clear, although fascinating research carried out by JA McIntyre for the University of Sydney suggests they included a Riesling, a Muscat Noir de Frontignac, and something called ‘Scyras’ that was drawn from cuttings from Hermitage in France; irresistibly suggesting it was Syrah.

I’ve been tracing the early history of Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia and California recently, and despite the comparisons to Lafite and Latour from The Times, it seems unlikely that Cabernet Sauvignon was in the Australian wines in Paris back in 1855.

We do know that James Busby imported the grape into Australia in 1832, and other documents I have found show early Australian grower John Fawkner planting Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1840s. I’m still looking for earlier examples, and have loved listening to Caillard’s tales of the swashbuckling early importers.

Coonawarra lays claim to some of the oldest Cabernets in Australia, but it’s in Margaret River, with its slightly cooler maritime climate, that I find some of the most exciting examples.

Cloudburst is one that I always open with joy. And I feel pretty sure that owner Will Berliner would relate to those early growers, who found their way through trial and error, a sense of adventure and a belief in their land.

Margaret River itself was only established as a grape growing region around 70 years ago, with Berliner, a New Yorker by birth (Long Island to be exact) arriving in 2005 with his Australian wife Alison Jobson.

They moved there full-time in 2012, to the farm they had bought together in a remote location surrounded by the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. The land had never seen chemicals in its soils and is home to, as he says, possums, quokkas, emus, hundreds of birds, lizards and ‘other slithery things’.

He also points out that indigenous people lived in Margaret River for 50,000 years before contact with European settlers, making it one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited areas. Referring to Cloudburst, he said that makes them ‘absolute babies’ in their journey to understanding the land, ‘on the shoulders of everyone else’.

My colleague Stephen Brook was among the first wine critics to take notice of Cloudburst, back in 2013 when a judge at the Margaret River Wine Show, giving its 2010 inaugural vintage the top red wine of the show. He has recently written an excellent profile of Berliner that I thoroughly recommend reading, with tasting notes of the Chardonnay wines.

I met Berliner in Bordeaux in 2018, and again a year later when he returned to the area to look into selling his wine through the Place de Bordeaux, something that happened for the first time in September 2020 with the 2017 vintage.

I tasted the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon a few months ago, giving it 97 points and finding it packed with savoury herbs and creamy blueberries. You can find the full note below.

For this tasting I got the opportunity to go further back, to the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, which was just the second vintage, when the vines were around seven years old.

They confirm what an unusually nuanced and complex wine this is, where everything is worked by hand, ‘slow and patient’ as Berliner says, guided by a winemaker who is unusually willing to admit what he doesn’t know, and instead chooses to uphold the spirit of exploration.

See Jane Anson’s Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon tasting notes and scores

Cloudburst, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2011

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)
Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

94

Curling aromatics of blueberry and cassis, with touches of rosebud, earth, liquorice and tomato leaf. This shows the savoury precision that you expect of a Cabernet Sauvignon from a cool-climate region, even though this was a dry year in Margaret River with hot days towards harvest, really speaking to the potential of this site. On the palate the tannins have fully softened, and this feels like a great moment to drink, with an easy freshness that amplifies flavours that have unrolled beautifully at ten years old. 1,933 bottles produced, around 40% new oak.

Drinking Window 2021 - 2028

Cloudburst, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2012

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)
Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

92

This was a warm and abundant vintage in Margaret River, and is showing a little less freshness than the 2011 at this stage. Plenty of evident black pepper, smoke and rosemary spice, with touches of black truffle, undergrowth, cinnamon and blackberry, opening to chocolate, black olive and liquorice that give accents to the plum and bilberry fruits. 2,100 bottles produced, 50% new oak.

Drinking Window 2021 - 2030

Cloudburst, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2013

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)
Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

94

The aromatics spiral downwards and outwards from the first moment, and this is really holdings its grip and attitude at eight years old. Clear spice, with a combination of truffle, campfire and undergrowth alongside chocolate shavings, liquorice, juicy blackberry, bilberry and cassis autumnal brambled fruits that are well integrated with the tannins. A cushion of air through the finish with a clear saline influence, reflecting a year that saw long, slow ripening. This is a lovely Cabernet, open and ready to drink but with plenty of life ahead. 1,688 bottles produced, around 50% new oak.

Drinking Window 2021 - 2034

Cloudburst, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2014

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)
Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

93

There is evident tobacco and bayleaf edging to the Cabernet, along with deep berry fruits, and this feels much younger than the 2013 at this point, really crossed a line into a more youthful wine that still needs a few years to soften and integrate. The tannins are slate-edged, giving excellent structure, and there is beautiful clarity to the fruits. This was an acclaimed vintage, with good early season rainfall and a very dry finish, giving the Cabernet plenty of time to ripen. It's a wine that is built to last but not as generous at this stage as the 2013. Around 50% new oak.

Drinking Window 2023 - 2036

Cloudburst, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2015

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)

Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

95

Clear floral aromatics, with rosebud notes curling up out of the glass. This is gorgeous, powerful and concentrated with clear-cut precision to the cassis and bilberry fruits, with billowing cushions of air underneath giving a minty burst of freshness on the finish. Such a well-balanced wine with restrained alcohol giving plenty of room for nuances of flavour as well as vibrant signs of a vintage that had cooler evenings towards the red harvest. Around 50% new oak, open ferment, hand punchdown, no extended maceration, natural malolactic fermentation.

Drinking Window 2023 - 2040

Cloudburst, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2016

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)
Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

96

Rosebud, blueberry and cassis notes dominate at first, showing real purity to the Cabernet Sauvignon. As things power up, you get great streaks of chocolate, slate, mint and eucalyptus. As is typical with Cloudburst, you get a ton of nuanced complexity, and a whoosh of freshness boosted by a saline lick on the finish. A slow burn overall, getting more and more interesting and succulent as it stays in your mouth and the flavours unroll. Clever, confident winemaking in one of the longest harvests on record. Around 50% new oak, natural malolactic fermentation, no extended macerations. It's worth pointing out that the vines are still only 12 years old at this point.

Drinking Window 2024 - 2040

Cloudburst, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2017

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 27 Aug 2020)

Part of Anson: Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2011 to 2017

97

This style of Cabernet Sauvignon is what you come to Margaret River for. Blueberry flavours that are both concentrated and creamy, dripping with savoury herbs and cocoa dusting. Liquorice root runs through the precisely held in place tannins, and this is a gorgeous wine from what was a relatively cool and long growing season in Margaret River. 3.8pH. Entirely dry grown, organic.

Drinking Window 2022 - 2040