Lanzerac Premium Merlot 2018

The 2017 Merlot have an excellent deep red colour, with ripe red berries, cocoa, slight mint and chocolate on the nose. On the palate the wine shows a well-balanced tannin structure, rich body with fruit and a lingering aftertaste.

Match this appetizing drink with hearty dishes such as veal chops with portabello mushrooms, gnocchi in a red pepper sauce with crispy pancetta as well as creamy gruyere and parmesan cheese risotto

variety : Merlot [ 100% Merlot ]
winery : Lanzerac
winemaker : Wynand Lategan
wine of origin : Jonkershoek Valley
analysis : alc : 14.3 % vol  rs : 2.7 g/l  pH : 3.36  ta : 6.2 g/l  
type : Red  style : Dry  body : Full  taste : Herbaceous   wooded
pack : Bottle  size : 750ml  closure : Cork  

ageing : The Lanzerac Merlot will benefit with 3 to 5 years maturation.

in the vineyard : The Lanzerac Merlot 2017 was sourced from four different vineyard blocks, D6A, D6B and D11 from Lanzerac and J7 from Jonkersdrift in the Jonkershoek Valley. The ages of the vineyards in 2017 were: Block D6A and D6B (23 years), block D11 and (19 years) and block J5 (11 years). These various blocks cover an area of 8.221 hectares and produced a yield of 4.25 tons/hectare in 2017. The 4 blocks sit at an altitude of 125m - 400 meters above sea level with mainly deep red decomposed granite soils. All pruning and harvesting is done by hand to ensure that only healthy and fully ripe grapes reach the cellar.

about the harvest: Harvesting for the 2017 Merlot was done from early to middle February.

in the cellar : When the grapes arrive at the cellar by tractor the bunches are hand sorted before destemmend, the loose berries undergo a further hand sorting before it is lightly crushed. Fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks with regular pump-overs (2 times a day) being done to extract colour
and flavour. The Merlot was fermented dry on the skins before pressing. The free run wine was kept apart from the press fraction. A portion of the Merlot wine underwent malolactic fermentation in barrels, whilst the remaining wine underwent malolactic fermentation in tank. A Selection of new, 2nd fill and 3rd fill French oak barrels were used to matured the Merlot for 12 months. Regular rackings resulted in excellent integration between wood, fruit and tannins.

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