Just Merlot...
As unique estate in South Africa, we focus exclusively on one variety only, Merlot! And although we have only one single vineyard, we produce four distinctly different wines from it. The solution lies in the modern technique of Precision Viticulture, which allows us to subdivide our vineyard into different micro-terroirs by means of aerial infra-red imagery. Interested? Then read more about our Precision Viticulture project in Bein's vineyard (pdf/256KB)
Why Merlot?
If you ask us why Merlot, you might get confusingly different stories, depending on whether you ask Ingrid, or Luca, or even the clever expert from Stellenbosch University, who was in charge of the preliminary site analysis and actually recommended Merlot.
But whatever it was, our vineyard is definitely suited for Merlot, with its cool South facing slope, the deep well-drained soils and the proximity to the sea. And because these factors are so important for Merlot, it's also important for us: As Merlot fundis, we like to produce the wines the true way, conveying the terroir as pure as possible.
Merlot is a challenge in the vineyard
Judging
by it's popularity, one should think that Merlot is an easy grape to
grow - but it's not! Viticulturists agree that the very site and climate
sensitive Merlot should be considered the most challenging red grape in
South African vineyards today. Moreover, it is a difficult variety in
the cellar too, which will gladly confirm every winemaker.
This is the reason, why we spend so much energy in fine-tuning our production. Have a look at our vineyard page and see our approach of optimizing quality. See how we produce four distinctly different wines from one single vineyard - and still adhere to our terroir principles. Or even better: come and visit us and get a taste of our wines!
...and in the cellar
When the fruit is ripe, the different microsites defined by Precision Viticulture are harvested separately. Naturally, the bunches are handpicked, with a stringent selection and sorting of the berries already in the vineyard, before it is transported in small 15 kg crates to the cellar, guaranteeing that only the best and undamaged fruit comes in. In the cellar, the fruit is controlled again on a sorting table, then destemmed and slightly crushed, and finally fermented in stainless steel fermenters.
However, before fermentation starts, we generally "bleed" the mash, i.e. drain off some free run juice. This enhances the concentration of our main wine, while yielding some beautiful grape juice of top quality, which is then cold fermented separately to become the Pink Merlot, our popular rosé.
Malolactic fermentation and further maturation of our red wines takes place in small 225L oak barrels sourced from top French cooperages. After one year of barrel maturation, the different batches are carefully evaluated and blended in tedious serious of blind-tasting, and the optimal combination will eventually make up our flagship wine Bein Merlot.