VINEYARDS
The south-west facing vineyards producing the Circumstance Merlot are cultivated at Waterkloof on the Schapenberg in Somerset West. The farm is about 5 kilometres from the sea, and the Merlot vineyards are planted at a height of between 240 and 260 metres above sea level. The soils are of sandstone origin with medium size stones, helping with drainage while retaining moisture. The 2007 vintage was cultivated under dry land conditions and the vineyards are trellised to effectively handle the canopy. Strong south easterly winds occurred during the growing season which helped to control growth and crop. The vineyards are 12 years old. Production was approximately 8 tons/ha.
THE 2006/07 GROWING SEASON
After several dry winters we had very good rains and cold weather throughout the winter period. The spring and early summer were some of the coolest in years, which is very positive for flavour development in the white wines and colour and structure on the reds. Due to the heat wave in late January, bunches from the Merlot vineyards formed a lot of raisins. This was due to the loss of moisture during the warm period. We had to harvest these blocks twice to ensure that only bunches that were unaffected by the heat were
selected for Circumstance.
WINEMAKING
The Merlot vineyards were harvested towards the end of February. Grapes were destemmed and fermented with naturally occurring yeasts in open
top wooden tanks. Manual punch downs were used during fermentation to maximise colour and tannin extraction. The wines spent an additional 20 days on the skins after fermentation to help integrate the tannins and stabilise colour. The skins were separated from the juice by a gentle basket pressing. All the wine went through malolactic fermentation in barrel. Wine was aged in
new (30%) and second fill (60%) French barrels for 20 months.
TASTING NOTES
An elegant Merlot with rich red and black plum flavours. Soft, fine tannins finishes off a wine with great length and purity.
ANALYSIS
Alc: 14.0 %
TA: 5.50 g/l
pH: 3.5
RS: 2.20 g/l
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