Merlot 2021

Dry Grown Merlot 2021

TASTING NOTES
Deep dense colour of dark plum. With aromas of Plums, mulberries, spice, blackcurrant, leather.
The palate is tight and tannic wine with nicely focused varietal fruit well integrated with chocolaty oak. Good backbone of fine tannins. Beautiful sweet red berry and slightly perfumed aromas. The palate is supple and succulent with quite delicious sweet fruit.

VINTAGE
After 2 years of lower volumes and drier years. This year was a reminder of what vintage is always like, fast pace as you battle the weather. Did you love the 2013 reds? Intense in flavour. Well, that is 2021. Big wines, big flavours and not that easy to juggle in the winery. The biggest difference this vintage was the rainfall in Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb with 121ml of rain. A wet February saw 51 ml fall for the month to start us of for vintage. January max temp was 39.5 degrees, February was 36.2, March was 37 degrees. With lots of beastly eastly drying winds in the first few weeks of the January.

VINEYARD
Fruit sourced from our 46 year old 12 hectare Dry Grown Vineyard. Our old vines are not irrigated; something quite unusual in these days of mass commercial production. Having smaller fruit fosters an intensity of the flavour, with most of the colour and tannin of the grape being concentrated in or near the skin. The characteristically cool climate of the district ensures slow ripening of the grapes, which also allows for the development of rich flavour and quality grape juice. Grown on ancient gravely loams, our old vines are all cane pruned and yield 2 tonne per hectare. Galafrey harvest their grapes from mid-March to late April depending on the season.

WINEMAKING
Mechanically harvested these dry, cool to mild climate grapes of the Great Southern region will produce classic Merlot, wines with great depth of flavour and structure. We endeavour through meticulous viticulture and wine production sympathetic to the vintage conditions to produce a Merlot that will express varietal characters in tune with its sense of place. Left of Skins as long as possible to ensure depth of colour and flavour our winemaking is geared toward producing a wine that is harmonious, with a minimum of two years in quality French oak."