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Bein Merlot 2005
released in March 2007, and the first comments were very promising, as the American wine critic Stephen Tanzer
wrote in his web page The
International Wine Cellar : "Good deep red.
Aromas of plum, redcurrant, graphite and tobacco, with a creamy merlot nuance
lurking. Juicy, spicy and fresh; a stylish, firm midweight with currant and
gingerbread flavors. Finishes with glossy but firm tannins and notes of licorice
and menthol. Varietally accurate and young " (Stephen Tanzer, April 2007
--> 89+ points) www.wineaccess.com/expert/tanzer
Accolades:
- 4 ½ stars by John Platter Wine Guide 2008, South Africa
- Silver medal at the Decanter World Wine Award, London, Mai 2007
- Bronze medal at the Swiss Airline Awards, Cape Town, April 2007
- Bronze medal at Veritas SA 2007
- Bronze medal at the Trophy Wine Show 2007, South Africa
- 89+ points from
Stephen Tanzer, April 2007
Lab: Alc. 14.2%vol, Extract 31.0 g/L, RS 2.6 g/L, TA 5.6 g/L, pH 3,57 , VA
0.50 g/L , TSO2 63 mg/L , FSO2 35 mg/L
Little
Merlot 2005
(released August 2006)
The grapes from our young, 5 year old vines were harvested and vinified separately.
The wine was matured for one year in third-fill
French oak Chateau barrels from Seguin Moreau and blended with 15% of a top
quality Petit Verdot, which we could source from a good friend in the Worcester
area. The result: 1600 bottles of a fine table wine, offering great value for
money with only R49.00 per bottle (R45.00 per bottle by case!), now available
from the farm as our second label
Lab: Alc. 14,2%vol, Extract 31,0 g/L, RS 3,4 g/L, TA 5,4
g/L, pH 3.51, VA 0.37mg/L, TSO2 68 mg/L, FSO2 37mg/L
VINTAGE REPORT for Bein Merlot 2005:
January/February 2006
As always at the begin of the new year, we
have the difficult task to evaluate the young wines. Though we produce only one
merlot from one single vineyard, we keep the different batches separate, such as
the wines deriving from different corners of our vineyard, from different
harvest days, as well as the wines matured in different barrels. This allows us
not only to distinguish the influence of the different factors and to learn from
our experience for future vintages, but also to identify the best batches for
the production of our “Grand Vin”. This year, we excluded the wine from our
young wines from the final blend, which we complemented with a splash of
Cabernet, though this vintage with a super Cabernet franc, which we luckily
could source from a farm in our vicinity. The result is a very promising wine,
full-bodied and rich, though slightly higher in alcohol than usual, as a result
of the hot growing conditions during the season 2004/05. The wine was bottled in
Mai 2006 and is now allowed a further year of bottle maturation before its
release. 13'600 bottles have been produced from this vintage.
November 2005
After alcoholic fermentation and extended maceration on the skins over 14
days, the young wine went into the new barrels for malolactic fermentation, in
order to get the best possible integration of the wood components. The rest of
the wine completed malolactic fermentation in the tank, and came therefore 3
weeks later into the older (2nd and 3rd fill) barrels, which were only by then
available due to the change in cellar. Since then, the wine has been racked
twice and develops slowly but surely to a great wine - different to the previous
vintages due to the significantly warmer and drier growth season 04/05: with a
higher than usual alcohol content of 14,2%, a lower acidity (5,5 gr/l), though
with a high density and perfectly ripe, silky tannins, making it accessible
already at this young stage, with fruity flavors and a full, opulent body
- a promising wine of great potential!
March 2005: Harvest into
our own new cellar on Petrus Place!
The new cellar is finished, just in time for the harvest 2005. Designed
according the latest enological standards, it is specifically tailored for the
production of our handcrafted quality Merlot (more about it on our new page About
the cellar).
After a dry, but luckily not
too hot of a summer, we could harvest a beautiful crop under ideal conditions.
Thanks to the fact that we could harvest in our own new cellar we were allowed
to pick the grapes at our own pace over several days. This enabled us picking
each lot at optimal ripeness, with careful sorting already in the vineyard. In
general, the Ballings (sugar content) were higher than usual though at a lower
acidity, though with beautifully ripe tannins. Fermentation took place without
any problems in the temperature controlled stainless steel fermenters of
our new cellar, and yielded 45 barrels of an exceptionally fine and ripe wine
(corresponding to a yield of 45 hl per hectare).
31st of December 2004
the season went on, as it started: very very dry! The mentioned rain in October
was all we got up to now. Luckily, temperatures were moderate, and the wind
within the normal limits. As a welcome side effect of the dry conditions, only
little weed developed, which saved us lots of work. Since we observed the
development of a big crop load due to the initially observed strong vigour and
the good berry set, we decided to cut out the excessive bunches this year a bit
earlier, in order to promote the development of the remaining fruit
correspondingly, and also anticipating the expected dry and warm ripening
season. During the third week of December, we therefore reduced the crop by
half, by leaving only one bunch per fruiting shoot, as we did last year with
good results. How dreadful it looks after such a "green harvest" is
shown in the picture above. Of course, a second round of crop control is planned
just after veraison, in order to remove all the late ripening green berries.
November 2004
Fortunately, October brought the urgently needed rain, 124 mm all in all.
Although not enough to balance the deficit in the dams, it replenished the soil
water reserves and gave us a good start into the season. As a result, vigorous
growth could be observed throughout the entire vineyard, and it was difficult to
cope with the entire suckering, shoot positioning and eventually tipping of the
too vigorously growing shoots. On the other hand, flowering (ca 25.10.-10.11.)
was undisturbed and even. And due to the good soil moisture content, the
following berry development was luxuriant, with only little millerandage
observed this year.
September 2004
After a very mild and dry winter, our vineyard started budding around the 20th
of September, the young replanted vines being a bit earlier. Like last year, the
dams are still quite empty, the weather specialists forecast a very dry year,
and stringent water restrictions are of course announced for the coming season,
now for the th
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the 2002 vintage
>>>
the 2003 vintage
>>> the
2004 vintage
>>>
the 2005 vintage
>>>
the 2006 vintage
>>> the 2007 vintage
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