Penny's Hill Malpas Road McLaren Vale Merlot 2021 (Australia)

Description

Blueberry, Cherry, Oak

"It's beautifully fruited and fragrant, showing Black Doris plum, dark cherry, mixed spice and roasted nut aromas on the nose, followed by a succulent palate displaying excellent weight and silky mouthfeel. Upfront and gorgeously expressed, offering terrific drinking. At its best: now to 2031" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Sep 2022

A fragrant bouquet of red cherry and blueberry fruits with subtle notes of fennel, black olive and savoury characters. This wine shows great fruit weight and generosity, abundant with plush dark fruits and perfectly balanced by soft, round tannins and a longlasting finish.

Planted in 1991 and added to the Penny’s Hill estate vineyard group in 1993, Malpas Road is named after the pioneering Malpas family who held lands in the district originally referred to as ‘Bay of Biscay’, an obvious reference to the relatively infertile cracking, grey-black soil upon which our hand-tended four acre Merlot patch does its work. The fissures which occur as the black soil cracks apart sever surplus root growth, a process which naturally lessens vigour and enhances ultimate grape quality. Vines are planted on their own roots with D3V14 clone.

Destemmed then crushed, this single parcel of Merlot grapes was open fermented on skins for 7 days prior to pressing. Secondary fermentation was completed in a combination of 1 to 5 year old French oak barrels and wine was matured for 14 months prior to blending. This wine was bottled in August 2022.