Hill&Dale Dry Rosé Merlot 2016

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.
Grapes for the Hill&Dale wines are selected from vineyards within the Stellenbosch region. Extensive vineyard management programmes are in place for each of the vineyards from which the fruit is selected. All aspects of the process are strictly governed so as to comply with not only the ethical standards of WIETA and the sustainability standards of the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) system, but also with the quality standards set for HACCP and the BRC (British Retail Consortium).
The name for the range was derived from Stellenzicht's Hillandale farm, located just outside the town of Stellenbosch. The logo on the label depicts an

The vineyards, planted between 1987 and 1993, are situated on gentle slopes facing north-east, planted at altitudes of between 160m and 230m above sea level and grown in marginal soils of decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone. The vines are all grafted onto nematode-resistant rootstocks and trellised on five-wire fence systems. Supplementary irrigations were given when necessary, and yields averaged 8,4 tons per hectare for this vintage which was characterised as generally hotter than average and the driest in many years.

Picking of the grapes was by hand at an average of 23° Balling. 

The juice was immediately separated from the skins to prevent too much colour extraction. Thereafter the same vinification processes were followed as in the case of white wines.
After clarification of the juice by flotation, fermentation took place in stainless-steel tanks at temperatures of about 16°C. After fermentation, the wine was allowed a short time on the lees before being prepared for bottling. Only a light bentonite fining was needed to ensure stability of the wine before final filtration. The first bottling commenced on 20 April 2016 with a total of 195,000 litres being produced.