Meritage



Blend: 55% Cabernet Franc, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5% Malbec, 2.5% Petit Verdot


Analysis:

Alcohol: 14.5% | PH: 3.56 | Titratable acidity: 6.97 g/L 


Bottling Date: July, 2012


Cellaring: 5 to 7 Years


Tasting Notes:

A young, elegant Bordeaux varietal blend that is built for long ageing. The nose is subtle but multifaceted with cassis, mixed red berry, plum, cherry, cocoa, blueberry, burlap, tobacco and cedar. The palate is refined and stylish with a silky textured body, ripe tannins and crisp acidity. The intense flavours of plum, cherry and raspberry along with the tobacco, burlap and spice linger on a long, graceful finish.The combination of fruit and structure should allow it to age and develop for a decade or more. Pair with slowly roasted duck or classically prepared roast beef. — Rhys Pender, Master of Wine

Wine Making:

Burrowing Owl Meritage is a blend of five varieties grown on Burrowing Owl's Estate vineyard: Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The components assembled for this blend vary from vintage to vintage and are always considered to be the best representative for that particular vintage. The different components to this blend were treated separately through the winemaking process until the first assemblage after 3 months of barrel ageing.The 2010 sees the return of Cabernet Franc as a leading component to the blend. All components were handpicked at optimum ripeness, sorted, de-stemmed and lightly crushed.The grapes were then allowed to rest at low temperatures prior to being heated so that natural fermentation could begin. Each varietal was fermented separately for 12 to 20 days on skins prior to pressing.The wines were then transferred to barrels for Malolactic fermentation (MLF). At the conclusion of MLF, the wines were racked off lees and transferred back into a mixture of French, American, Hungarian and Russian oak barrels where it was aged with occasional racking for 20 months.

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