Colour: Dark red
Bouquet: Aromatic nose with red berry fruit, sweet spice and hints of vanilla and oak
Taste: Full-bodied, fruit-driven wine with blackcurrant fruit, cassis, dark chocolate and some herbaceous notes. Subtle tannins linger with sweet red berry fruit on the finish.
Very versatile, this wine would best complement all red meat dishes.
variety : Cabernet Sauvignon [ 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Shiraz, 4% Petit Verdot ]
winemaker : Niel Bester
wine of origin : Paarl
analysis : alc : 14.26 % vol rs : 2.8 g/l pH : 3.67 ta : 6.0 g/l
type : Red style : Dry body : Full taste : Fragrant wooded
pack : Bottle size : 750ml closure : Cork
in the vineyard : The diversity of the soils, slopes and elevations is closely linked with the quality of Plaisir de Merle wines. Situated on the east and northeast facing slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, Plaisir de Merle is bordered by the towns of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. The vineyards for this wine, between 12 and 23 years of age, are all located on the Plaisir de Merle farm on south-eastern slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain planted in weathered, decomposed granite soils where high mountain peaks shade the vineyards from the hot, late afternoon sun. This slows down ripening, resulting in wines with a very typically rich fruit complexity and well ripened tannins.
Viticulturist: Freddie le Roux
in the cellar : At the cellar the grapes were sorted, destalked, cooled to 16˚C and pumped into stainless steel tanks and inoculated 24 hours later. During fermentation at 24˚C, the juice was pumped daily over the skins at regular intervals to extract colour, tannins and flavour. Once fermentation was completed, the wine was left on the skins for a further 7 to 9 days to macerate. The wine was racked off the skins and malolactic fermentation was completed, partially in barrels and in tanks. The wine was then racked and transferred back to French oak barrels (60% new) to mature for 12 to 16 months. Wines from two different Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards were selected and small percentages of Malbec and Petit Verdot were added to complete the final blend. It had only one coarse filtration prior to bottling.