Brindle Vineyard Merlot

This wine from Brindle Vineyard in the heart of Margaret River is full of plush red and black fruits with dark chocolate and herbal notes and supple Merlot tannins.

REGION
Brindle Vineyard, Wilyabrup is just inland from the wild shores of the Indian Ocean, which brings soothing cool breezes in summer. Between the vineyard and the sea is a rocky outcrop that holds a clue to the history of the Earth itself - a granite belt formed in the Precambrian supercontinent, Rodinia, when what is now India was joined to this corner of Western Australia. This ancient geology gives the area its soils of decomposed granite with coffee rock and iron stone. The vines were planted in 1998 and are trained on VSP trellis.

A relative newcomer to the international wine scene, Margaret River is one of the most reliable wine growing regions in Australia and quickly established a reputation for distinctive and world-class Merlot, Cabernet and blended wines. Seasons are consistently warm and dry with cooling ocean breezes, providing a long ripening period well-suited to Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

SEASON
Challenging seasons do occur in Margaret River, and vintage 2015 was one of them. Yields were low due to various factors, including rain and unsettled weather in spring. Wet and windy conditions continued into early summer then January and February were dry and warm, with few hot spikes. As autumn arrived, so too did Cyclone Olwyn on the far northern coast, bringing rain and some nervousness to southern vineyards. However, the season then settled for the usual extended warm, dry, long ripening period, and the red harvest, though smaller than usual, was of excellent quality.

The fruit was handpicked and destemmed before fermentation in open fermenters, with a mix of hand plunging and drain-and-return, as required. The wine was matured in a mix of old and new oak barrels from select Bordelais coopers.