Analysis:
Alcohol: 14.0% | PH: 3.57 | Titratable acidity (as tartaric acid): 7.34 g/L
Bottling Date: May 1st, 2012
Cellaring: 5 - 7 years
Tasting Notes:
This wine launches with a complex nose combining the fruitiness of ripe black cherry, black plum, blueberry and blackberry with interesting savoury notes. There is smoke, dark chocolate, pastry crust, bacon, cinnamon, vanilla and clove along with a subtle violet floral note.The palate is full bodied with mixed red and black berries, plum, paprika and dried sage with a long finish. The savoury tannins should allow this wine to mature well and gain further elegance and complexity over the next 6 to 8 years. Pair with spice dusted flank steak or chicken thighs stuffed with dried black olives and garlic. — Rhys Pender, Master of Wine
Wine Making:
The 2010 vintage is expected to yield excellent quality. Even though the growing season started late and we experienced unseasonably cool summer weather, dry and warm temperatures in October saved the day. The grapes for this wine were hand-picked from a few different parcels on the Burrowing Owl estate, from the middle to the end of October. After hand picking, the grapes were de-stemmed, lightly crushed and gravity-dropped into stainless steel tanks. The fruit was warmed to 17° Celsius over a period of 3 days, and was then fermented on the skins for the next 12 — 18 days. Extended post-fermentation skin contact was performed on some batches. Following fermentation, the batches were drained and pressed, with all parcels being kept separate throughout the process.The individual batches of Merlot were transferred to appropriate barrels for Malolactic (ML) fermentation. At the completion of ML, the wines were racked off the lees. The wine received further rackings over the next i6 months in the barrel cellar, in a mixture of French, American, Hungarian and Russian oaks.The wine was bottled unfiltered.
