Nose
The wine doesn’t hesitate in showing the lifted scents of mulberry, blueberry, dark jubes, menthol and cedar that are its hallmark. It is no shrinking violet and displays background notes of leather and earth.
Palate
Here the impression is of plump, soft dark fruit flavours – blackcurrant, dark jubes and mulberry. Full bodied with smooth texture and a well-balanced tannin structure.
Growing Conditions
A very good quality year. During the harvest period, the weather was absolutely sensational, with day after day of maxima in the high 20’s or low 30’s, without a cloud in the sky. Ripening was steady all the way through but fortunately not so rapid that we couldn’t keep up. The Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec, that contribute to this blend were all picked at full ripeness but not beyond. Early in the season we experienced some variable conditions when above average temperatures were accompanied by regular rain during spring and early summer. However, the variations generally happened when they suited us best, giving reasonable flowering conditions and topping up the soil moisture. Across all varieties, yields were slightly above average for the early ones and then slightly below average for the later ones. The consistent warmth of this vintage makes it similar to warm years like 2003 and 2007. The red wines of this vintage show bright fruit characters and freshness of 1983; however on the palate they seem softer and richer, than both the earlier vintages.
Bottling
16/10/2012
Winemaking
All grapes were handpicked and once at the winery the fruit was destemmed into a combination of small, open fermenters and large, static fermenters. In the former, extraction was by hand plunging 4 times per day and in the latter, each batch was pumped over 3 times per day. The skin contact time was managed according to taste and pressing was done when each batch had the best tannin balance. The various different batches spent between 10 and 20 days on skins. After pressing, each batch was allowed to settle in stainless steel tank before being racked off gross lees and undergoing malolactic fermentation. After this was completed, all the various batches were blended and the final blend was returned to barrel. The final blend consisted of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Petit Verdot, 12% Malbec and 9% Merlot. Since our aim with this wine is to preserve the primary fruit characters, it spends only slightly longer than one year in barrel. The 2011 was racked and blended July, 2011, fining trials were carried out and it was decided to treat the wine with egg whites. Once this was done, the wine was sterile filtered and bottled.
Aging
5 years
Appearance
Deep brick red, in bright condition.
