Ridgeback Merlot 2004

John Platter 2007 - 4 stars
Full, ripe mouthful fruit with firm tannins for structure. Aromatics of violets, black plums and dark chocolate oak spice mineral and suede. Textured tannins support the dense, rich mid palate.

variety : Merlot [ 100% Merlot ]

winery : Ridgeback Wines

winemaker : Cathy Marshall

wine of origin : Coastal

analysis : alc : 13.49 % vol rs : 1.48 g/l pH : 3.74 ta : 5.78 g/l

type : Red

pack : Bottle closure : Cork

AWARDS

John Platter 2007 - 4 stars

in the vineyard : Clone MO343 (French Clone) planted in 1999.
Vineyards are grown on a vertical shoot position trellis.
The Merlot vines are double cordon-armed with 6-8 bearers on the arms and are south facing.
They are spaced 2.5m x 1.5 m.
Soil are deep and gravelly.
Scheduled irrigation is given from spring to autumn according to scientific soil potential profiles.
Production is at 7 tons per ha.

about the harvest: Grapes were handpicked on 11 February 2004.
Bunches were healthy and harvested at optimal vine and seed ripeness.
Analysis:
Sugar: 24.4Â° Balling
Acidity: 5.26g/l
pH: 3.8

in the cellar : Destemming with no crushing.
Wholeberry component of 80% in fermenter.
The must was fermented in stainless steel tanks for 8 days with a commercial yeast strain suited to Merlot.
Pumpovers were applied twice daily to extract flavour and tannins for stucture.
Fermentation was completed after 12 days at 260C, wine was then gravity fed to 225 li barrels for secondary malo-lactic fermentation.
The wine was matured in 40% new French oak and 60% second fill French oak for 16 months.
A light fining and filtration prior to bottling.

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