Merlot & Cab Franc '19

Haiku:

Violets & Spice
Damson Plums Dark Chocolate
Simply Delicious

Winemakers Notes:

2019 marks our debut Zaria red blend with 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc bringing spice and complexity into the mix. We diligently hand picked the fruit and de-stemmed the berries into open top fermenters where they underwent wild fermentation and continued to spend over a month macerating on skins. Following a gentle pressing the wine was blended and put to older barrels to age for 15 months. The wine was racked, filtered and bottled on the 15th October 2020.

Plums and chocolate leap from the glass, (the “Fry’s Turkish Delight” chocolate bar comes to mind) There’s also a lovely range of spices that only Cabernet Franc can bring to the party – ground coriander seed, thyme and orange peel among them. Rich and bold on the palate the fine tannins saturate the mouth with flavours of damson plums, chocolate and red currants. This a fresh and spicy red wine brimming with complexity and charm that would accompany a charcoal bbq lamb rump any day of the week… and indeed has.

Vineyard: Lesley’s Vineyard
Sub region: Bridge Pa Triangle
Variety/Clone: 60% Merlot/481 & 40% Cabernet Franc/Erindale