Product Description
The Vineyard
The Lanzerac Merlot 2015 was sourced from four different vineyard blocks, D6A, D6B (both 21 years old in 2014) and D11 (17 years old in 2015) from Lanzerac and J7 (9 years old in 2015) from Jonkersdrift, all situated in the Jonkershoek Valley. All the blocks combined covers an area of 8,22 hectares and the yield in 2015 was 9,42 tons per hectare. The 4 blocks have an altitude of 125 – 400 meters above sea level with mainly deep red decomposed granite soils.
Jonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
The Harvest
Late February to early March.
The Cellar
Upon arrival at the cellar the grape bunches are hand sorted then destemmed. The loose berries undergo a further hand sorting before it is lightly crushed. Fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks. Regular pump-overs (twice a day) are done to extract colour and flavour. The Merlot was fermented dry on the skins before pressing. The free run wine was kept apart from the press fraction. A part of the Merlot wine underwent MLF in barrels, while the rest completed MLF in tank. A selection of new, 2nd fill and 3rd fill French oak barrels were used to mature the Merlot for 12 months. Regular racking resulted in excellent integration between wood, fruit and tannins.
Alcohol: 14 % Residual sugar: 3,9 g/l Total acidity: 5,9 g/l pH: 3,56
Aging Potential
Drink now are mature for 3-5 years.
Awards
~ 4 Stars Platter’s Wine Guide (2016) ~ 4 Stars Platter’s Wine Guide (2015) ~ 4 Stars Platter’s Wine Guide (2014) ~ Double Gold Medal Michelangelo International Wine Awards (2015) ~ Silver Medal Wine Style People’s Choice Awards (2014) ~ Silver Medal Decanter World Wine Awards (2015)
