Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard 2009 Merlot Cabernet Franc

The two varieties were harvested and made into wine as separate batches and blended before preparation for bottling.

The hand-harvested grapes were delivered to the winery in the Piccadilly Valley where they were de-stemmed, lightly crushed and chilled as must to 2°C into 0.8 tonne fermentation tubs.

After a cold maceration of 4 days our own yeast and bacterial strains were added and 2 days later fermentation started. Gentle hand plunging of the cap of skins in the tubs was performed daily and the peak fermentation temperature was 32°C. The fermentation finished after one week of hand plunging and the tubs were sealed down for a further week of post fermentation maceration on skins.

The young wine was drained and pressed through a small air-bag press and gravitated immediately to French oak barriques, 70% new, and remained on full lees until the malo-lactic fermentation finished in early spring.

At the completion of malo-lactic fermentation, the wine was racked off lees and a small dose of sulphur dioxide was added and the wine returned to barrique for a total of 22 months in oak.

The separate wines were clear racked and blended prior to bottling in February of 2011.