Vinordic Wine Challenge 2006 - Gold and Best Red Wine in its category and 2nd best wine at show overall
Winemakers' Choice Awards 2005 - Diamond
Veritas 2005 - Gold
Colour: Due to the richness and intensity of colour the wine is almost opaque. It is best described as being deep purple with a scarlet tinge.
Bouquet: Rich and intense fruit flavours with blackberry backed by cinnamon and spicy oak.
Taste: Full, rich flavours, with tones of stewed fruit flavours followed by vanilla. It is a mouth-filling wine with a lingering aftertaste.
The winemaker recommends serving it with game, red meat or even chocolate and states it is definitely not a seafood wine.
in the vineyard : Viticulturist: Eben Archer
Planted in 1995, these young bush vines showed their potential with the 2000 vintage, and have surpassed even that wine with the 2001 vintage. The vineyard lies on a relatively flat slope with the rows orientated from north to south. The medium potential soil originates from decomposed granite and the vines received an overhead, supplementary irrigation at the time of veraison. Being bush vines, the yield balanced out at 7,8 tons per hectare, which was slightly lower than expected, but with excellent concentration.
in the cellar : After destalking and crushing, the mash was transferred to closed stainless steel tanks where fermentation was induced by the addition of the pure yeast strains NT50 and N96. Fermentation took place at between 28° and 30°C with a light pneumatic pressing taking place just prior to the completion of fermentation. Half the wine completed fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The other half was transferred to oak barrels where the fermentation was completed. Barrel maturation time averaged 16 months with the barrel selections as follows:
- New French oak (44%), new American oak (20%) and new Hungarian oak (5%).
- Second-fill French oak (22%), second-fill American oak (4%) and second-fill Russian oak (5%).