Nose
Dark and brooding with satsuma plums,
aniseed, cinnamon, vanilla and lanolin
Palate
Plush, rich and intense with liquorice
allsorts, blackberry conserve, dark chocolate
and cherry. A strong core of natural
acidity keeps the palate tight and linear
with a touch of vanillan oak adding to the
impressive length and complexity
Growing Conditions
Cape Mentelle’s Zinfandel was planted in
1974 on a ridge of free draining lateritic
gravel on an east west row orientation to
minimise the affects of strong westerly sea
breezes. Traditionally planted to low density
bush vines this vineyard requires fastideous
attention to detail to ensure only the best
quality fruit is produced.The 2011 harvest in Margaret River
was warm, dry and early, continuing an
excellent run of recent vintages. Warm
nights and above average daily temperatures
throughout the growing season led to very
early ripening across all varieties with
harvest commencing earlier than any of the
last 5 vintages. Ripe, plush, velvet tannins
and abundant fruit fl avour are the result of
this outstanding vintage
Winemaking
The zinfandel was handpicked in the fi rst
week of March. After destemming and
individual berry sorting, the must was
allowed to soak at cool temperatures for
several days prior to fermentation. The
wine steadily fermented to dryness prior to
basket pressing directy to large oak vats and
barriques for malolactic fermentation and
maturation. We used 25% new French oak
barrels for a total of 18 months. The wine
was bottled in November 2012.
Appearance
Dark mulberry.
Food Pairing
Salt and pepper quail.