Blend: 55% Syrah,45% Cabernet Sauvignon
Analysis:
Alcohol: 14 % | PH: 3.67 | Titratable acidity: 6.00 g/L
Bottling Date: August 2013
Cellaring: 7+ years
Tasting Notes:
A modern BC blend with the soft richness of Syrah blended with Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure and verve.The nose shows Syrah’s black pepper, Italian plum, blueberry and savoury, meaty notes along with Cabernet’s cassis, violet, dried sage and cedar.The palate is full and intensely flavoured with firm yet ripe tannins, lots of cassis, blackberry, blueberry and plum, earthy dried sage, cedar, burlap and dusty mineral notes with a long finish suggesting a great ability to develop. Pair with Moroccan spiced lamb or rabbit braised in red wine. — Rhys Pender, Master of Wine
Wine Making:
The 2011 growing season turned out to be, on average, one of the cooler seasons in recent history. However, with careful vineyard management to ensure low yield from our vineyard, the grapes reached high sugar levels, perfect acidity and low pH.The long hang time (i.e. late harvest date) resulted in optimal phenolic ripening of the grapes, which contributes vital characteristics to the color, texture and flavor of wine.
Picked by hand on November 7th 2011, the Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were hand sorted, destemmed, slightly crushed and gently dropped into the SAME tank. Co-fermentation of the two varieties was preceded with cold soak (5 days) and was started with a selection of yeast. After fermentation, the wine was left on its skins for a further 6 days to improve colour stability and tannin structure. It was then pressed and transferred into barrels for the completion of malolactic conversion and ageing. Ageing: 18 months in 6o% French, 3o% US, 5% Russian, 5% Hungarian and 5o% new oaks
