Merlot 2008
We have 3 different blocks of Merlot and other than using it as a singular cultivar that has also won awards in South Africa and is a 4 star wine we use a lot of Merlot in our blends.
Chemical Analysis
pH 3.5
Total Acidity 5.9 g/l
Volatile Acidity 0.61 g/l
Alcohol 14 %
Residual Sugar 2 g/l
Free Sulphur 35 mg/l
Total Sulphur 92 mg/l
Awards
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ABSA Top Ten Pinotage Winner (’08 vintage)
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SA Terroir Awards – Top Pinotage
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Gold Michelangelo International Wine Awards
Tasting Notes
Dark with vibrant violet tinges, a fusion of freshly picked redberries, showing intense cherry and rasberry interlaced with sweet oak aromas of vanilla, cocoa and smoked meat. The palate is rich and ripe followed by a delightful lingering sensation of cherry, dark chocolate, cinnamon and crushed black pepper.
Intense but elegant, the wine has a firm structure with a superbly long finish. The balance of this wine allows us to enjoy its current flirtatious liveliness, but will soften pleasurably over the next five years.
Vinification
At Welbedacht we’re serious about Pinotage and don’t follow convention. Once the bunches have been hand selected in the vineyard.The whole grapes are then chilled in our pre-cooling room for at least 24hrs before being gently destemmed and crushed.
The crushed grapes are then allowed to cold soak for two days before being inoculated with a pure yeast culture. The grapes ferment at high temperatures of up to 31º C, which promotes maximum extraction of colour and structure. This practice also allows any excessive alcohol to evaporate. During fermentation the grapes are ‘punched down‘ regularly by hand.
Fermentation is completed on the skins and once drained the skins are pressed in a traditional wooden slat basket press. The juice is now wine and is allowed to settle in stainless steel tanks before being inoculated with malo-lactic bacteria and transferred directly to barrel, where malo-lactic fermentation takes place. The wine is further matured for 16months in small oak barrels before final blending and bottling.
All grapes come from the farm and we can truly say that the wine is grown, made, matured and bottled at Welbedacht.