98 points, best ever and a Top 100 wine and “Special Value Wine” for James Halliday:
Cape Mentelle has some very expensive, but very effective, grape sorting equipment, and this may be part of the reason for the purity and the singularity of this beautiful cabernet. It’s all there, all laid out for you, blackcurrant/cassis fruit, spicy/earthy undertones and perfectly ripened tannins standing guard over the fruit. The oak is subtle, but has been carefully orchestrated.
Also 98, best ever and a Five-Star wine for Huon Hooke and the Real Review:
Deep colour, good hue. The bouquet is marvellously complex: mossy undergrowth, sousbois, tobacco, nori and dried herbs galore. It’s a more elegant style than the 2014 or 2009, understated and finessed yet piercingly intense with fine, soft tannins and a long carry.
And Decanter:
Strikingly different to its modern predecessors, this is a big black-fruited monument constructed within a big framework of oak and tannin. Deep notes of cassis and liquorice roll around with rich blackberry and blackcurrant in a blocky palate that will need time to acquire sharper definition. A futures investment.
And a Suckling 96:
There’s a lot to like in this refined and powerful 2016 vintage. Deep blackcurrant, plum and earthy aromas, as well as leaves, redcurrants, cherryies and blueberries. The palate has beautifully complete tannins that roll effortlessly along smooth, elegant lines. Fruit is impeccably fresh. This is packed with aromas of red and darker berries. Some warm and spicy oak to close. Drink or hold.