Nose
Typically lifted and aromatic, the fruit characters are bright and charming – raspberries,
blueberries and violets. Enormously appealing.
Palate
This is a medium bodied and easy drinking wine, showing the structure of cabernet
sauvignon and the generosity of merlot. The fresh and pretty palate is juicy and salivating
with red and blue fruits backed by milk chocolate and restrained vanillin oak. The fine,
gravelly tannins provide length from the front to the back of the palate giving a long,
satisfying finish.
Growing Conditions
Reasonable winter rains led into favourable spring conditions with an absence of the violent
wet weather that can reduce fruitfulness. Summer was, again, long and mild, with very few
heat spikes and little rain. The marri trees had fantastic blossom (the best since 1994), that
lingered on and reduced bird pressure facilitating even ripening. As such, all grapes could be
picked with no disease and at perfect ripeness. Harvest timing was slightly earlier than
normal with all red fruit being harvested at optimum skin, seed and fruit ripeness.
Winemaking
The cabernet sauvignon component was held on skins for 10 days to help build the structure
of the wine. The merlot was pressed earlier to retain bright fruit aromatics, while still
providing mid palate sweetness. The traditional Bordelaise winemaking technique of
délistage was used during maceration to provide bright aromatics while increasing oxygen in
order to help with tannin polymerisation. 10% new French oak was used on this wine to
complement the fruit while providing some subtle mocha and vanillin oak sweetness. The
wine was held in oak for 12 months and racked and returned twice before being fined with
Margaret River free range eggs, filtered and bottled.
Appearance
A vivid bright red.
Food Pairing
Beijing’s most famous dish Peking Duck, served with Mandarin
pancakes, hoisin sauce and spring onions.
