John Platter 2006 - 3 Stars
The wine is ruby, cherry red in colour, clear and brilliant. On the nose, it has a sweet plum fruit entry with caramel and vanilla flavours, which indicated softness and juiciness. The palate is velvety soft and very accessible, but still mouth filling with loads of plum fruit on the juicy and lingering palate.
Serve with red meat dishes such as lasagne or cheese.
variety : Merlot [ 89% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc ]
winemaker : Kobie Viljoen
wine of origin : Western Cape
analysis : alc : 14.0 % vol rs : 2.7 g/l pH : 3.5 ta : 5.3 g/l
type : Red body : Full wooded
pack : Bottle
in the vineyard : Average Temperature: Summer 25ºC Winter 17ºC
Annual rainfall: 220mm
Proximity to ocean: 30km
Soil: Alluvial, Silty Dundee
Trellised, 8-year-old vines planted on south western-facing slopes yielded the grapes for this wine. The vines received supplementary drip irrigation and produced 10 tons per hectare.
about the harvest: Grapes were handpicked at 25º Balling, which will ensure richness and easy extractable colour and flavour. The crushed grapes are chilled down to 14ºC prior to fermentation in stainless steel tanks.
in the cellar : During fermentation, colour, flavour and structure are extracted during daily pump-overs. After fermentation, a percentage of the wine will undergo Malolactic fermentation on French oak staves and the other portion without any oak, focussing on fruit preservation. Selection of tanks, which contains the targeted characteristics, will be made, the wine will be blended and fined. After 6 months of maturation and integration, the first volume will be bottled sterile. The wine is blended with 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc.