Merlot

Ideal with lamb and other moderately rich red meat dishes, as well as rich baked pasta.

A small family winery at the end of the Upper Blaauwklippen Road in the mountains above Stellenbosch South Africa. Established in 1992 by architect David Trafford & artist wife Rita with the focus on high end red wines of great intensity & longevity using minimal intervention production methods.

Another excellent vintage to follow 2017 after 2 years of drought. Winter started a bit late but was cold enough to get dormancy off to a good start. Bud break started late as winter dragged on into September. The early growing season was windy with cold and wet periods leading to uneven flowering and berry set resulting in lower yields. The rest of the growing season was dry and hot followed by much cooler temperatures in February with especially cool nights. Disease pressure was very low and the late start to harvest we had healthy grapes with small bunches and small berries. Harvest a little later than usual with very little rain problems. Harvest date: 14/2/18 to 16/3/18 @ 22 to 25 balling

Time in barrel 19 months, which included several rackings to gradually clarify the wine and assist maturation. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered by hand on the property.

Handpicking into 20 kg lugboxes. Destemming and gentle crushing directly into small 2 ton open top fermentation tanks. Spontaneous natural yeast fermentation @ max. 30°C with the cap of skins punched down manually 1-3 times a day for 10 days. Wine drained directly to barrels together with single pressing from traditional basket press. Malolactic fermentation in the barrel. 35% new French oak.