Melba Reserve 2008

Region
Yarra Valley

Appearance
Medium purple with brick red rim.

Bouquet
Rich and complex, leafiness with sweet earth and blueberry. Cedary oak, well balanced and integrated.

Palate
Full fleshy texture, fine grain tannins. Sweet black and red fruit flavours with complex notes of dusty earth, leaf and dried herbs.

Vintage Conditions
Fruit is sourced from from two estate vineyards called ‘Old Hill’ and ‘Old Back’ , both planted in 1971. Vines are cane pruned to 20 bunches per vine and shoot thinned at the 10-15cm stage so that there are no more than 15 bunches per vine. The vines are hand picked into 8kg buckets and transported to the
winery. Fruit is destemmed, crushed and tipped into open 6 tonne fermenters. The fruit undergoes natural fermentation, and once fermenting, is kept at a minimum of 25°C, then left on skins for up to 20 days. The wine is then pressed, settled overnight and gravity filled to new and used casks where is matures at 16°C for 14 months.

Winemaking
Fruit is sourced from two estate vineyards called ‘Old Hill’ and ‘Old Back’ , both planted in 1971. Vines are cane pruned to 20 bunches per vine and shoot thinned at the 10 - 15 cm stage so that there are no more than 15 bunches per vine. The vines are hand picked into 8 kg buckets and transported to the winery.  Fruit is destemmed, crushed and tipped into open 6 tonne fermenters. The fruit undergoes natural fermentation, and once fermenting, is kept at a minimum of 25º C, and is left on skins for ~ 25 days. The wine is then pressed, settled overnight and gravity filled to new and used casks where it matures at 16º C for 14 months. All our red wines complete malic acid fermentation for microbial stability and deacidification.

Wine Analysis
Alc/Vol: 13.9%   pH:  3.50   TA: 6.3 g/L

Cellaring
10 - 15 years in good cellaring conditions. These ‘claret styles’ age very well over time.

Suggested Cuisine
Slow cooked shoulder of lamb.

General Characteristics
Dry  Medium Bodied