Teakle 2021 Merlot Cabernet

ATTRIBUTES

Fresh aromas of blackcurrant, mulberry and dark fruits, with some earthy, black olive notes. It is a medium bodied wine, with the Merlot giving it a soft, juicy mid palate, and the Cabernet giving more dark fruits and structure. The oak supports the palate structure and has a slightly toasty finish, with fine grain tannins. It is very approachable now, we have aged this wine slightly prior to release, so it is perfect to enjoy now or with short term cellaring.

Vegan friendly.

WINEMAKING

The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were picked and destemmed, without crushing the berries. This allowed a small amount of whole berry fermentation. The must was pumped into an open 4 tonne stainless steel fermenter for co-fermentation. After alcohol fermentation was completed, the must was pressed off in an open basket press, drained into 300 litre French Oak Hogshead barrels and malolactic fermentation allowed to take place, with approx 30% new oak and up to 4 year old oak for the remainder.

VINEYARDS

Situated on the Teakle property in Port Lincoln, 2 km from the foreshore, with 150 meters elevation. The soils are a rich combination of sandy loam topsoil overlying a friable red-brown clay loam subsoil. The moderately warm summer temperatures and maritime breeze allow perfect ripening conditions in the vineyard. The long sunshine-hour days encourage even ripening of the grapes, while the gentle breeze helps cool the bunches, retaining the beautiful natural acidity. 

VINTAGE

The 2024 growing season saw good rainfall in winter, which set up good ground moisture for spring growth in the vineyard. The summer of 2023/2024 was mild however, so the fruit sat on the vine longer than usual, waiting for ultimate ripeness to be achieved. The vineyard remained in pristine condition so we were able to leave the fruit to ripen over a long period of time.