|
VINEYARD BLOCKS
1 block 17 year old vines on 7 wire vertical trellis with
moveable foliage wires. Clone MO 192 on 101 - 14 rootstock.
On low lying Helderberg mountain site. Poor gravelly clay
soil.
Yield 5 tons / hect. (36hl/ha).
2nd block 11 year old vines on 7 wire vertical trellis with
moveable foliage wires. Mix of “new clones” on
R110 & R99 rootstocks. 'Mont Fleur' vineyard - high altitude
mountain slope. Soil deep red Hutton. Yield 6 tons / hect.
(39hl/ha).
3rd block 15 year old vines on 5 wire vertical trellis with
moveable foliage wires. Clone MO192 on R99 rootstock. “Keermont”
vineyard – high altitude mountain slope. Soil deep gravelly
Hutton. Yield 4 tons / hect. (29hl/ha)
5% Cabernet Franc included.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
Slightly below average winter rain was followed by above
average spring rain. This allowed for good growth up to flowering
and was followed by hot and dry conditions during berry enlargement,
ensuring smaller berries. Substantial rain (75mm) in January
delayed the harvest a little, producing a soft, well balanced
Merlot without quite the concentration of the later varieties.
Harvest date : 9 / 2 / 05 – 4 / 3 / 05 @ 24 –
25.4° B
PRODUCTION
Handpicking into 20 kg lugboxes. Destemming and gentle crushing
directly into small 2 ton open top fermentation tanks. Spontaneous
natural yeast fermentation @ max. 31°C with the cap of
skins punched down manually 1-3 times a day for 10 –
13 days. Wine drained directly to barrels together with single
pressing from traditional basket press.
All our red wines undergo malolactic fermentation in the barrel.
35% new French oak was used from high quality coopers. Time
in barrel 20 months, which included several rackings to gradually
clarify the wine and assist maturation.
The wine was bottled unfiltered by hand on the property.
Bottling date : 14 / 12 / 06. Production : 1200 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Attractive deep red colour. Rich red berry and cherry fruit
with beguiling savoury earthiness, nuts and spices. These
flavours follow through on the palate with plenty of fine
tannins and a classic long, dry finish.
Probably best between 2008 and 2015. Ideal with rich pasta
and various meat dishes.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 14.83 SG. 2.1 TA 5.7 pH
3.52 VA 0.53 SO2 32free 85total |
