| COLOUR |
Deep crimson red with purple hues. |
| REGION |
Frankland River |
| NOSE |
Lifted cedar and vanilla complement the fragrant aromas of cherry, blueberry and dark stone fruit with earthy undertones. |
| PALATE |
Complex, richly concentrated, beautifully textured allowing fruit characters of dark berries, plum and lifted floral notes to come to the
fore. The tightly woven palate has fine grained tannins, cocoa and savoury earthy notes. The palate is generous and persistent. |
| ASSESSMENT |
A very refined, beautifully balanced and effortlessly elegant wine with the structure and fruit intensity to richly reward further cellaring. |
| ASSEMBLAGE |
Cabernet Franc (62%), Merlot (17%), with smaller portions of Malbec (16%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (5%). |
| VITICULTURE |
All four varieties used in the blend were dry-grown on mature vines in the Isolation Ridge Vineyard at Frankland Estate. The vineyard sits on an undulating northern and eastern facing slope on ancient duplex soils of gravel and loam over a clay sub-soil. It is farmed using organic viticultural practices and this is reflected in the depth and concentration of fruit flavours. The vines are trained on a Scott Henry Trellis system and trimmed to allow maximum sunlight penetration of the canopy during the growing season. This encourages flavour development and promotes balance in the wine. |
| 2009 VINTAGE |
An outstanding vintage in the Frankland River region with dry, mild conditions throughout the growing season. These conditions provided a complex, elegant and well structured wine. |
| VINIFICATION |
Each variety was fermented separately as slowly as possible at temperatures not exceeding 30ËšC. Open fermentation tanks facilitated working the cap with gentle plunging and pumping over. After fermentation, an extended maceration period allowed maximum colour, flavour and tannin extraction. The component wines were blended on completion of the malolactic fermentation and then aged in French Oak for 18 months. Racking from the barrel allowed minimal filtration before bottling. |
