Nose
The nose is open and varietal with notes of
black plum, applewood smoke and cracked
pepper. Hints of cardamom and vanilla pods
make the aromas very enticing.
Palate
Vibrant fresh plum accompanies roasted
black fruit notes, supported by a good
structure of smoky tannins, still youthful and
peppery and full body throughout. The oak is
sweet but structuring and the fnish already
shows good length, promising to improve
with age.
Growing Conditions
The fruit for this wine was sourced from
Cape Mentelle’s vineyards from Margaret
River ranging in age from 15 to 40 years.
The soils are predominantly deep sandy
loams with high lateritic gravel content over
clay. Shoot and leaf removal techniques were
used to ensure good fruit exposure to light
and take advantage of the ocean breeze fow
through the canopy.Margaret River experienced amongst the
warmest vintage on record and on par with
the very warm 2011 vintage. White varieties
were all harvested in a rush and look fantastic
with the fruit all in the winery by the end of
February. The red varieties enjoyed a long
warm ripening season that ensured beautiful
mature tannins and bright varietal fruit
favors.
Winemaking
Fruit was selectively harvested based on
favour and tannin maturity. The fruit was
destemmed and berry sorted then individual
vineyard batches were fermented on skins for
up to 15 days. At the desired balance of fruit
and tannin extraction, each batch was gently
basket pressed, with harder pressings kept
aside. The individual parcels were racked
to barriques and large oak vats following
pressing for malolactic fermentation. Regular
rackings over a 14-month period ensured the
individual wines were at their best prior to
blending. The wines were matured in selected
Burgundian coopered barriques of which
20% were new, before being bottled in
October 2015.
Aging
Enjoy in a few months or cellar 10-15 years.
Appearance
Deep dark ruby.
Food Pairing
A shared plate among friends, a dish of
glazed duck with pink peppercorn sauce,
some simply grilled herbed lamp chops