Melba Reserve 1998

Appearance: Dense red with rich purple hues.

Bouquet: Intense concentrated blackberry fruit with cedary oak.

Palate: Full ripe fruit flavours with complex oak, rich soft tannins and a concentrated palate finishing with exceptional length and richness.

Recommended Cuisine: Serve with roast rib or fillet of beef.

Cellaring: This wine will mature and age extremely well over the next 8 - 10 years under good cellaring conditions.

Wine Analysis:
Alcohol : 13.5 %             
pH : 3.56
TA : 6.2g/L

Winemaker’s Comments: The 1998 Melba was made from the best parcels of Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  A hot dry season resulted in low cropping levels with an average of 2.2 tonnes to the acre.
Each parcel of fruit brought into the winery was fermented separately and the exceptional parcels were run off at the end of fermentation into new oak barriques. Because of the lower cropping levels, the fruit was more concentrated in flavour with full bodied structure and richness allowing the wine to be matured for 22 months in new French oak barriques prior to bottling in March 2000.