Brash Higgins, 2018 Clos Antonio Lamento Cabernet Franc, McLaren Vale, Australia
Cab Franc du Jour #91
Brash Higgins is a partnership between Brad Hickey, a former sommelier, and Nicole Thorpe, a McLaren Vale native whose family has worked the region’s vineyards for many generations. They met in 2007, and Brash Higgins’ first release came in 2011 with their inaugural bottling of Nero d’Avola, a grape that has since become a signature for the winery.
My own introduction to Brad came through Levi Dalton’s podcast, an interview from 2016 in which Brad mentioned, almost in passing, that he also made a 100% Cabernet Franc. As you might imagine, that made my ears perk up. Through my local wine shop in Coral Gables, Florida, I had the chance to meet Brad in person at an in-store tasting in 2017. I asked him about the FRNC, and was delighted to learn there was a small allocation on its way to the United States. Later that year I got my hands on my first bottle, and was immediately taken by the wine’s sense of place, balance, and energy. That experience sparked a genuine curiosity about Brad, his passion for Cabernet Franc, and the vineyard behind the wine.
As is so often the case with producers who commit to Cabernet Franc outside its traditional heartlands, it was exposure to the great wines of the Loire that first ignited Brad’s passion, followed by the search for the right site where the variety could genuinely shine. He found this block in 2014, which became the first vintage of FRNC, and has never looked back.
Cabernet Franc in Australia
Cabernet Franc represents a very small piece of Australia’s viticultural picture. There are only 124ha of the variety planted across South Australia, set against 27,443ha of Shiraz and 17,117ha of Cabernet Sauvignon. Within McLaren Vale specifically, just 22ha of Cabernet Franc are planted, compared to 4,198ha of Shiraz and 1,338ha of Cabernet Sauvignon, placing McLaren Vale third among South Australian regions for Cabernet Franc behind Coonawarra and the Barossa Valley.
McLaren Vale
McLaren Vale is located in the Fleurieu zone of South Australia, one of seven GI zones within the broader South Australian region, about 30km south of Adelaide along the southern coast. It is bordered to the east by the Mount Lofty Ranges and to the west by the Gulf of Saint Vincent.
The climate is broadly Mediterranean, with warm to hot summers, mild winters, and very low rainfall. The region is fairly large with considerable mesoclimatic variability, and the primary moderating factor is wind. Two main sources of breezes temper the climate: cool air off the Gulf of Saint Vincent, which is part of the Southern Ocean, and breezes descending from the Mount Lofty Ranges. Proximity to these two sources plays a defining role in any given vineyard’s mesoclimate.
The Vineyard
In most of McLaren Vale, the climate would be far too warm for Cabernet Franc, but this particular site benefits from a set of conditions that make it genuinely special. The vineyard is located only 6.5km from the Gulf of Saint Vincent, and Cabernet Franc’s affinity for coastal environments has been a recurring theme across many of the sites featured here. The cool sea breezes arrive during the day, and the Gulf’s proximity also helps lower overall vineyard temperatures in the evenings, offsetting the warmer daytime conditions, slowing ripening, and preserving natural acidity.
The soils are equally important. McLaren Vale’s geology is exceptionally complex, with over 40 distinct soil groups identified across the region. The soil in this block is known locally as cracking black clay, a type of vertisol: a very heavy, dense, expansive clay typically of volcanic origin. Clay is inherently a cooler soil due to its moisture-retaining capacity, and while this particular clay has high water-holding capacity, its fine pore structure means the vines must work hard to access that moisture. That restriction naturally limits vigour and yield and creates balance in the vine. Both Brad and viticulturalist Peter Bolte have noted that this black cracking clay has a marked influence not only on the success of Cabernet Franc in this block, but on its character in the finished wine.
The block covers 4 acres (about 1.6ha) of Cabernet Franc planted in 2001, on their own roots. The rows are oriented north-south, and the canopy is managed to ensure sufficient foliage protects the bunches on the western side from the intensity of the afternoon sunshine.
In the Cellar
Brad is deliberate about picking decisions, prioritising acidity and pH over sugar levels to ensure the Cabernet Franc retains its varietal character and freshness. The fruit is hand-harvested and fully destemmed before fermenting with indigenous yeast in one-tonne open-top fermenters. Punchdowns are performed twice daily, and the wine spends approximately two and a half weeks on skins. The free-run wine is then drained and the skins gently pressed, with the free-run and press wines recombined. Aging takes place in French oak barrels of eight to twelve years of age for approximately ten months before bottling.
Wine Details
Producer: Brash Higgins
Region: South Australia, Australia
Sub-Region: McLaren Vale
Vineyard: Clos Antonio Lamento (Sommerville Vineyard)
Soil: Cracking black clay
Alcohol: 13.9%