Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard 2018 Merlot Cabernet Franc

The Merlot and Cabernet Franc were hand harvested from the Whalebone Vineyard and delivered at night to the Tapanappa Winery in the Piccadilly Valley.

The grapes were destemmed, lightly roller crushed and chilled to 2C on the way to 0.85 tonne fermenting tubs. The crushed must was cold soaked on skins for 2 days before the fermentation was initiated. After fermentation began the tubs were hand plunged daily, fully immersing the skins in the fermenting juice. The fermentation lasted for 11 days and reached a maximum temperature of 33C. At the end of fermentation, the wine was left on skins for a 7- day maceration under inert gas cover.

The Merlot and Cabernet Franc wines were separately gently pressed away from the skins and immediately gravitated to French oak barriques, 50% new and 50% single use, to undergo malo-lactic fermentation. At the end of malo-lactic fermentation, the wines were racked off gross lees and returned to barrique for a further 18 months of maturation.

In December 2019 the wines were clear racked from the barriques and blended, 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. The finished wine was bottled in January 2020.