Durbanville Hills Merlot 2000

The International Wine & Spirit Competition 2002 - Bronze
An extrovert wine with its strong personality rooted firmly in the terroir of the hills of Durbanville. Strong mint on the nose - a mint indisputably from full-ripeness so concentrated that it turns back and forth to intense berry flavours in the mouth as it pushes to the front its intense fruit, prune flavours and violet incense. A full bodied wine that remains with you long after a last sip finished with subtle oak aromas. The grapes came from two different vineyards on two different slopes of Durbanville. Whilst the Klein Roosboom vineyard delivered an aromatic Merlot, the other cooler vineyard gave me a perfectly structured wine. These two were allowed to develop separately and then blended together into a complex and balanced wine.

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variety : Merlot [ 100% Merlot ]

winery : Durbanville Hills Wine

winemaker : Martin Moore

wine of origin : Coastal

analysis : alc : 13.5 % vol rs : 0.98 g/l pH : 3.80 ta : 5.3 g/l

type : Red wooded

pack : Bottle

AWARDS

The International Wine & Spirit Competition 2002 - Bronze

ageing : Will develop in complexity for up to 10 years in the bottle.

in the vineyard : One of South Africa's top three wine districts, Durbanville, is situated in the first valley from Cape Town and a mere ten kilometres from the cold Atlantic Ocean. Its proximity to the ocean and the micro-climatic attributes created by the hills, classify it as a cool area with a temperate climate. This exclusive appellation is limited in size due to its dependence on rainfall. The vineyards are cultivated under dryland conditions and this - the fact that the vines receive no irrigation - means that natural selection and restriction of yield are possible: ideal conditions for producing quality grapes and, of course, exceptional wines.

about the harvest: Beyond the unique character of this wine, at its formative beginning, will be found the influence of the diverse and opposing slopes of Durbanville hills. The grapes for this wine were selected from two distinctly different vineyards. They were picked by hand at optimum ripeness at between 25Âº and 26Âº Balling, from mid-to the end of April 2000. These grapes were harvested from a sunny north-facing vineyards of Klein Roosboom, and a south-facing vineyard at Hooge Bergs Vallei.

in the cellar : The must was fermented on the skins for seven days until dry, and kept on the skins for three weeks to allow extended maceration. Fermentation took place in stainless steel Disio tanks from Italy. This cutting edge technology allows maximum fruit, colour and tannin extraction from the skins through continuous computer regulated pump over cycles. The fermenting juice was kept in closed, oxygen-poor tanks, whilst the skins remained fully immersed during the entire fermentation and maceration period. After malolactic fermentation, the wine was matured for 12 months - 50% in new French oak barrels and 50% in second fill and third-fill oak barrels. Only 300 litre barrels were used.

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