Hill&Dale Merlot 2010

Colour: Deep and vibrant ruby.
Bouquet: Fresh raspberry tones with hints of savoury cedar and sweet tobacco.
Taste: A medium-bodied, well-balanced wine with fruity red berry flavours. Unpretentious and soft, this wine has calm tannins and a clean, fruity finish.

Excellent enjoyed on its own or served with veal, turkey or cottage pie. Try it as an aperitif with strawberries and balsamic vinegar.

variety : Merlot [ 100% Merlot ]

winery : Hill and Dale

winemaker : Guy Webber & Samantha de Morney-Hughes

wine of origin : Stellenbosch

analysis : alc : 14.09 % vol rs : 4.10 g/l pH : 3.37 ta : 6.00 g/l va : 0.52 g/l so2 : 60 mg/l

type : Red style : Dry body : Medium taste : Fruity wooded

pack : Bottle closure : Cork

ageing : Imminently drinkable in its youth, the wine should gain somewhat in complexity at an age of three to five years.

in the vineyard : Background
Stellenzicht's Hill&Dale label offers a range of accessibly styled wines with a New World character for international
appeal, created by award-winning winemaker Guy Webber. Despite their being made for early and easy enjoyment,
Webber has eschewed a generic format for these wines, instead choosing to clearly express their origins.

Grapes for Hill&Dale wines are selected exclusively from Stellenbosch vineyards. An extensive vineyard management programme has been established with regular inputs from international specialists.

The name for the range was derived from Stellenzicht's Hill&Dale farm, located just outside the town of Stellenbosch. The leaf logo on the label depicts an oak treeleaf, synonymous with the historic university town.

Vineyards (viticulturist: Johan Mong)
The vineyards, planted between 1987 and 1993, are situated on gentle slopes facing north-east, at altitudes of 160m to 230m above sea level. The vines are grown in marginal soils of decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone. Grafted onto nematode-resistant rootstocks and trellised on five-wire fence systems, the vines received supplementary irrigation when necessary.

about the harvest: The grapes were harvested at 22.7° Balling between February 5 and March 11, 2010.

An average yield of 6.2 tons per hectare was achieved for this vintage which was characterised by very low yields due to severe south-easterly winds which inhibited optimal flowering and fruit-set during October 2009.

in the cellar : After destalking and crushing, the mash was fermented in stainless steel tanks at 26° to 28°C before being transferred to a combination of oak barrels and vats for further fermentation of around seven months. During final blending, a touch of Cabernet Franc was added in order to give the wine an extra dimension and some added complexity. The wine was bottled on October 25, 2010 with a total of 8 270 cases produced from this vintage.

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