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Deep red colour, well balanced with soft ripe fruit and sweet earthy fynbos flavours. Kranskop Merlot 2002 delicate fruit tannins follow on the palate with subtle oak roundings.
Blend Information
Kranskop Merlot is 100% Merlot
The Harvest
Medium, small canopy - green drop of bunches not fully covered four weeks before harvest. Hand picked in the early morning, full ripe grapes and soft handling.
In the Cellar
Vinification: Open fermentation for 10 days, basket pressed - into barrels, on the lees for 6 months.
Wood ageing: 12 months in French oak for 225 litre barrels, 1st, 2nd and 3rd fill.
Malolactic fermentation: Malolacatic fermentation took place on the lees in 225 litre barrels.
Production: 8490 bottles
Analysis
Kranskop Merlot is 14.5% alcohol by volume
Ageing Potential
Enjoy Kranskop Merlot 2002 now, but will improve with further cellaring. 8 Years.
Kranskop Winery
Hidden away in Klaas Voogds in the heartland of the Breede River valley, you find a cellar with a difference. Tradition and personal attention to quality, combined with the natural beauty of surrounding mountains, create the perfect setting for a unique wine.
Relaxing on the wine-tasting deck high up on the hill against Kranskop, the distinctive range of rock-formation that lends this cellar its name, one becomes aware of the special ambiance of the personalized cellar and its unique product.
At Kranskop the old adage that "a wine is made in the vineyard," is true. What grows in these rocky hills, is what goes into the wines. With its highest vineyard 320m above sea level, one can simply wonder at such quality, bouquet and taste. The 250° view from the cellar is truly magnificent.
Kranskop wines boast a very distinctive bouquet, colour and quality. This can mainly be attributed to three factors: the rocky, cool southern incline of the terrain, the unfiltered wines and most importantly, the fact that the wines as handmade.
Kranskop has established themselves as a small successful cellar and aims to retain that personal quality.
A smooth red wine, with an attractive nose, that reminds one of violets, plums and the flavours of spice. In Eikendal Merlot, a well balanced body and a long, pleasant finish underline the elegant character.
Vinification
After the harvesting the crushed grapes are fermented for one week in stainless steel tanks. After fermentation the wine matures for 12 months in French oak barriques.
Analysis of Eikendal Merlot
Sugar: 2.8 g/l
Total acid: 6.7 g/l
pH: 3.41
Alcohol: 13.27 vol%
Maturation Potential
Eikendal Merlot is already very enjoyable, although will improve its character when matured another 4-5 years in the bottle. This vintage is a full-bodied red wine with very good tannin structure and colour.
Merlot is a variety of wine grape used to create a popular red wine. Merlot-based wines usually have medium body with hints of berry, plum, and currant.
Most connoisseurs consider it "easy to drink" when compared to other red wines, particularly its traditional blending partner Cabernet Sauvignon. Its softness and "fleshiness," combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot an ideal grape to blend with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet. Many Merlots are made in a style popular with newer red wine drinkers (though to be clear, good Merlots accompanying appropriate food are popular with many regular wine drinkers as well).
It is produced primarily in France and California, and on a lesser scale in Australia, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, Slovenia, and other parts of the United States. Most wines from Bordeaux contain at least some Merlot, and in the regions of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion it is not unusual for Merlot to comprise the majority of the blend. One of the most famous and rare wines in the world, Château Pétrus is almost all Merlot.
White Merlot is made the same way as its more famous cousin, White Zinfandel. The grapes are crushed, and after very brief or even no skin contact, the resulting pink "must" ferments. It normally has a hint of raspberry flavor.
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