Houghton Jack Mann Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Expert reviews

"This is the pinnacle of the Houghton range. It comes from the famous Justin vineyard, where some of the state’s finest wines have their genesis. This is one of the most elegant and stylish of any 'Jack' yet released yet there is no shortage of engine room grunt. Chalky iron filing minerality emerges from the dark fruits on the nose. The palate Is seamlessly integrated with slightly gravelly but fine tannins working their magic. Of course, it is a pup now, but there is great potential for extended ageing. Drink: 2023-2043."  Ray Jordan, Wine Pilot – 98 points

"Jack Mann was winemaker at Houghton for an unbroken 51 vintages, 1922 - 1972. In that time, he significantly impacted the Western Australian wine industry, and his family has continued in the tradition since his time. This Cabernet Malbec blend was the first premium wine from the Great Southern (potentially a contentious statement, but name a wine that continues today that is a patch on this) and, in 2020, shows its mettle. This 2020 Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon is a supple, full-bodied Cabernet with a bloody countenance and layer upon layer of settled, silty tannin. The wine is powerful and driven, and the oak has been absorbed by the fruit as if it wasn't there. This has an approachability and beauty in these early days of its life, although we know it won't come into its own for anther five years or so. Beyond that time, the world is your oyster. Drink: 2022 - 2042."  Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 98 points

"Dense and deep core, almost black in its intensity with a rich purple rim. Heady aromatics, ripe blackberry, tobacco leaf and dark chocolate tones all leap out. The palate has those same exuberant tones, but all in perfect harmony with a seamlessness that speaks of quality and integrity. Oak is subtle in its additions to the palate with a fine grained, but amply powerful tannin profile ensuring the line is perfect and the length prodigious. Undoubtedly an Australian classic. Drink: 2023–2043."  Stuart Knox, The Real Review - 98 points  

"By popular demand, I present to you, Jack Mann the great Cabernet. Densley packed perfume. Sweet dark cherries, plums, dark earth. There’s a lot happening, so I need to break it down and go back a few times. And it’s so intense, hard to separate the flavours. Complex, no doubt. Layered, yes. Rich and detailed. Bold and beautiful. Leather, granite, violets, sweet oak, soy sauce, salty edge, and coffee with thickened cream mouthfeel. Cocoa powder tannins coat the tongue tightly. Dark chocolate finish, bitter, aromatic and with an acidic push. Sinewy, brooding, set in a fat structure. It’s a bit like a very ornamental, thick, gold embossed frame that takes away the attention from the artwork set within, aka the fruit. Yet, it manages to charm and poise and ah. Dare I say this, despite the complexity, the finish doesn’t quite live up to the glory of the flavour intensity built upfront and midway. There’s no question it needs more time to evolve. Still, pretty darn good as is. Drink: 2028 - 2040+."  Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front - 95+ points 

About Jack Mann

Jack Mann is the finest Cabernet produced by Houghton. It is named after legendary  winemaker Jack Mann, who presided over the winemaking for 51 consecutive vintages at Houghton. A pioneer deserves to be remembered for taking bold risks to achieve extraordinary outcomes. Jack Mann typified this from the moment he joined the fledgling Houghton winery in Western Australia in 1922.

Mann’s legacy through 51 years as head winemaker at Houghton, until his retirement in 1974, was profound. Having been instrumental in introducing new winemaking techniques and original wine styles – using Chenin Blanc as the foundation for the incredibly popular Houghton White Burgundy (now called White Classic) – Mann succeeded in making the winery world-famous.

His achievements were honoured in 1994, when Houghton named its icon red wine, made from Cabernet Sauvignon, in honour of Jack Mann. Fruit is sourced exclusively from a small patch of 46-year-old vines on the Justin Vineyard in the Frankland River sub-region of Great Southern. The vines were planted in 1971 and are descendants of the mysterious original Houghton clone selected by Mann himself. Located on ancient granite gravels and enjoying a mild climate, these vines produce fruit of rare quality.

"When you drink the Houghton Jack Mann reds, sourced solely from Western Australia’s Great Southern region, you taste significant fruit power matched to a dusty, stretching, stalker-like length. It’s a great tribute to the bloke who was Jack Mann. He used to travel from the Swan Valley to Great Southern to play cricket, and between sending down leg-cutters he’d salivate at the wine potential of the place.

He spent 51 consecutive years as winemaker at Houghton’s home base in the Swan Valley, and in the process he put his state on the winemaking map – to the enduring benefit of the wine-loving world. He also had a saying: 'The greatest grape is the noble cabernet. Cabernet sauvignon is the only grape that would be tolerated in heaven.'

The Houghton Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon, which he never got to taste, was first produced from the 1994 vintage, and was made by Paul Lapsley. Jack Mann himself died in 1989. His name adorns a wine whose pedigree is largely, shamefully, ignored: it is a single vineyard wine produced off vines planted at the dawn of Western Australian wine time – in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is hand-picked, hand-made, fussed over and thought through. It’s fermented in small batches. Most years it achieves excellent ripeness, and with the strength of its various varietal components has an edge of complexity over most other Australian cabernets. The vineyard from which it comes is in the Frankland River area of Great Southern. Like Bordeaux, it is a maritime-influenced region.

Frankland is the driest sub-region of the Great Southern region. It is 220 metres above sea-level, and in this dry, ocean-cooled heat the vines strain down into a mix of light medium clay soils and sandy loams. The vineyard block itself is of significant size – it’s nearly 90 hectares. It runs upwards, along a ridge, and the grapes that make it into the Jack Mann cabernet invariably come from the vines planted at or near the top of that ridge – where the soils are skinny and hard. The vineyard is essentially dry grown, though limited water is available should the vines show undue stress – or look as though they are in danger of death. Salinity, of the area’s water and the area’s land, is a significant mitigating factor both to future development and to the way existing vineyards are worked.

Winemaker Paul Lapsley now admits that the 1994, 1995 and 1996 wines were blatantly made to win awards at wine shows. 'In 1994, our five-year plan was to try to put Houghton on the map as a red wine producer, because up until then it was known pretty much only as a white wine producer. It was calculated then that we’d produce the first three vintages in a concentrated show style to make a statement.'

This is all fine, dandy, and unexceptional – except that the 1994, as a ten year old, has outgrown its bulk, its breadth now outdone by its length. It also tastes as though it has another ten years up its sleeve. The belief now is that, within reason, the quality of the grapes grown on this mature, Frankland River vineyard are of such exceptional quality that they will out-stay whatever winemaking quirks are thrown at them. It’s why the general belief now is that, if the 'Jack Mann' grapes were human, they would make for a great lover … they have staying power."  Campbell Mattinson

Frankland River

The Great Southern wine region of Western Australia is the most ancient, most isolated and largest wine region in the world. The region is up to 2.8 billion years old and covers over 1.7 million hectares, a whopping 200 kilometres from east to west and 100km from north to south. Since the Nyittiny – creation times – our First Nations people of the Wagyl Kaip region have shared and cared for this Great Southern country.

Great Southern time is a place of dramatic contrasts - striking tall timber forests, swathes of rich agricultural land, imposing mountain ranges, dramatic peaks and ancient rivers. Due to its vast size and spread, it features not only different terroirs but climates that vary from the Mediterranean through to the maritime, resulting in unique wines that reflect their natural surroundings. From this diversity a wine region of international significance and reputation has emerged – the pristine Great Southern wine region.

The region is divided into five distinct sub-regions, each producing wine styles that reflect their unique terroir. The sub-regions are Porongurup, Frankland River, Mount Barker, Denmark and Albany - refer to the map below.

Frankland River sub-region

Frankland River wine, one of Western Australia’s best-kept secrets, is located approximately 360 kilometers south of Perth and lies 80 kilometers inland from the coast. Home to rolling hills, rich farming land and natural forest abounding with native wildflowers, it is named after the river which bisects it and the town at its center. Frankland River is the highest of the Great Southern sub-regions, with most vineyards sitting between 150 to 300 meters above sea level. With 1,600 hectares of vines planted, it is also the most prolific of the five sub-regions.

Frankland River is home to some of the oldest vines in Western Australia, with the first modern-day vineyards planted in 1967 on a property owned by the Roche family of Perth. This vineyard is now owned by Houghton and supplies them with some ultra-premium grapes. Three years later, in 1971, Merv and Judy Lange began planting vines on their Alkoomi property.

Today, there are six wineries located in the sub-region – Frankland Estate, Alkoomi, Swinney, Ferngrove, Lange Estate and Three Elms. In addition, many of Western Australia's iconic wineries source fruit from the area for their wines. Frankland River is home to plantings of all the traditional Australian grape varieties, however, it is internationally best recognised for producing premium cool climate Shiraz and Riesling. Is one of the State’s most successful wine producing regions and its impressive wine show success is testament to the quality of its vineyards and wines.

Frankland River has a true Mediterranean climate, with cool nights and warm days with long sunlight hours. Despite being 80 km inland, a moderating sea breeze from the Southern Ocean finds its way into the region and is a significant boon to local vineyards. In Albany, the equivalent wind is known as the 'Albany Doctor', after the more famous 'Fremantle Doctor' which cools the baked vineyards of the Swan District near Perth. The sea breeze, together with the elevation of the vineyards, create a long, slow ripening season that give the wines intensity of fruit, finesse, freshness and longevity. 

Frankland River's soils and topography consist of significant alluvial features. Ironstone-based gravel soils derived from granitic outcrops line the river valleys and rolling hills. These rich, red ironstone gravels often impart a unique flavour to the wines.

Frankland River is one of the five sub-regions of Great Southern

About the winery

Houghton is one of Australia's oldest operating wineries and Western Australia’s second oldest producer. In 1836, only four years after the fledgling town of Perth was established, three British Army officers purchased a prime piece of land in the Swan Valley and established Houghton. 

Thomas Yule had retired from the Army to settle in Perth and convinced mates Ninian Lowis and Richmond Houghton to join him in an investment in the Swan Valley. In deference to Houghton's seniority as a Lieutenant Colonel they named their property Houghton - but interestingly Houghton himself never visited Australia, and although Lowis called into Fremantle on his way to the eastern colonies, he too never bothered visiting his Swan Valley investment.

Yule established fruit orchards and planted grapes for making into raisins, and also made his own wine for regular dinner parties. However, he fell on personal hard times in the mid-1850s and sold his interest in Houghton to his partners, who in turn sold out in 1859 to the Colonial Surgeon, Dr John Ferguson.

The highly-regarded Ferguson, a Scot who reputedly was the first person in Australia to use anaesthetic, had a scientific interest in winemaking and in his first year at Houghton used Yule's grapes and winemaking equipment to produce the property's first commercial wine. The wines sold well in Perth, prompting John to buy an adjoining property and appoint his son Charles to manage the property. By 1866, the Fergusons had 6ha under vines.

Charles Ferguson took over the full company reins in 1875. Interestingly, he developed a business relationship with a winemaker in South Australia named Thomas Hardy who had founded Thomas Hardy & Sons, and who acquired some of Charles' raisins. Little would Charles have foreseen that 83 years later, Thomas Hardy & Sons would become the owners of his Houghton property.

By the early 1900s Houghton wines were so successful that in 1920 Charles turned the property over to his own sons John and Donald, with George Mann as chief winemaker. George Mann in turn trained his son Jack as a winemaker, the son inheriting the Chief Winemaker mantle from his father in 1930. Seven years later, Jack Mann experimented with a wine using entirely Chenin Blanc grapes, the wine winning 'Best Dry White Table Wine' trophy at the 1937 Royal Melbourne Wine Show. One judge likened it to "the great white Burgundies of France" and the company labelled it Houghton White Burgundy.

Jack Mann was 31 when he made the White Burgundy and became the winery's driving force with 51 consecutive vintages at the helm. It became the biggest selling white wine nationally and during this period over half the grapes crushed in Western Australia went into Houghton White Burgundy. In 2006, the wine was relabelled Houghton White Classic to comply with international regulations.

Houghton was bought by the Emu Wine Company in 1950, saw its 1-millionth bottle of White Burgundy produced in 1972, and in 1976 the Emu Wine Company was in turn acquired by Thomas Hardy & Sons. In 2011, Accolade Wines acquired Houghton after several corporate mergers and acquisitions. 

Houghton gradually eased itself out of its original home, the Swan Valley, and has not produced Swan Valley table wines for many years. It expanded into the South West and Great Southern regions and established a winery at Nannup in the Blackwood Valley in 2003. Houghton's portfolio now features a range of high-quality wines from Frankland River, Mount Barker, Pemberton and Margaret River. The winery operates four of Western Australia's largest vineyards at Pemberton (92ha), Mount Barker (74ha), Frankland River (89ha) and Moondah Brook (145ha) which is located some 88km north of Perth in the foothills of the Darling Ranges in the Swan District region. 

In 2019, much to the horror of many in the Australian wine industry, Accolade decided to sell the historic Houghton winery and cellar door in the Swan Valley. Houghton moved its entire wine production to its base in Nannup ending a winemaking era that began in the Swan Valley almost 200 years ago. The move was strategic as Nannup is halfway between Margaret River and Frankland River, the two areas from which Houghton sources most of its grapes. Houghton's new cellar door is located in the Margaret River, which they share with Brookland Valley (also owned by Accolade).

Remarkably in its 188 year history, Houghton Wines has had just fourteen Senior Winemakers. Courtney Treacher was appointed to the position in 2020, replacing Ross Pamment who worked for Houghton for 21 years, the last 10 as Senior Winemaker. Continuity is assured as Courtney worked with Pamment for 17 years. Courtney says the brand’s enviable reputation in the winemaking industry is firmly rooted in Western Australia’s regional nuances. "For over 185 years Houghton has been producing wines that are unique expressions of Western Australia’s idyllic landscape."