2017 Wallcliffe Merlot Petit Verdot Malbec
The violet flower lift and structure of the Petit Verdot is enriched by the plushness of the Merlot and enhanced by the spicy power of the Malbec to give an engaging and unique expression of our Wallcliffe red blend in 2017
Every Wallcliffe red wine is a limited edition bottling that celebrates the highlights of the vintage, the finest parcels of fruit and the best barrel selection. Explore our diverse and surprising Margaret River terroir with the best varietal blend each season!
Nose
The aromatics are dark and brooding; intense mulberry fruit, black plum and fresh violet are met with forest bramble, tobacco and hints of smoked ground spices. Finer nuances of mocha, roasted charred fig, wild anise and dark earth meld with dried herbal notes and hints of cinnamon and nutmeg
Palate
The palate is tightly wound with mocha and dusty red berry fruit, anise and fresh wild floral elements which overlay a densely packed yet finely structured palate, with a myriad of spice and delicate herbal notes. This well balanced and seamless wine displays wonderful savoury notes of cedar and red earth fanning out to a supple and silky texture of long dark chocolate
Blend
Merlot 54%, Petit Verdot 26%, Malbec 20%
Cellaring
Ready for enjoyment in its youth, this wine can also be cellared for 20 years and beyond
Food Pairing Notes
We suggest matching it with a rich vegetarian minestrone with grated parmesan and garlic croutons. The richness of a bone-in rib eye with a peppercorn and mushroom sauce or a slow roasted venison fillet covered in Mexican mole sauce with baked beetroot elevates the smoked spice complexity in this wine
The Vineyard
The fruit comes from our Trinders and Crossroads vineyards with the malbec sourced from a premium grower partner in Wilyabrup. The typical soils of these vineyards are geologically ancient, free draining sandy loams with a high percentage of lateritic gravel. This blend came from three exceptional parcels that simply demanded to be kept separate, and be unified in our best blended expression of 2017
The Season
The preceding winter gave healthy rains, replenishing soil moisture levels which led into a milder spring with the lowest average degree days ever recorded (least heat seen for a growing season). Flowering in all varieties was delayed by 10 days compared to the 2016 season, with wonderful sunshine giving excellent set (fruitful flowers into berries) and thus great crop potential across all varieties. With a mild summer, punctuated by only a few hot days (over 30C), veraison (colouring and softening of berries) in early February came three weeks later than 2016 (mid January) and picking for the reds was quite late; 10th of April for Malbec, 21st April for the Trinders Merlot and 9th of May for the Petit Verdot
Winemaking
The fruit is 100% destemmed and lightly crushed to closed top fermenters of between 120kg to 2.5 tons capacity. The ferments proceed with wild and selected yeasts and operations are decided day by day without recipe to optimize potential and complexity. Post fermentation macerations are long -up to 120 days- to develop silky tannin structures before light basket pressing. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barriques (50% new), the wine aged on lees (yeast sediment) for 16 months and then blended and bottled
Analysis
14.5% alcohol, 5.8 g/l total acidity, 3.65 pH
Wine Companion
54/26/20% merlot/petit verdot/ malbec. On skins for 54 days, basket pressed with pressings added back, left on ferment lees for 18 months in French barriques (50% new). Dark and dense with secondary characters already forming on the palate. This has leather strapping and exotic spice, putting one in mind of a Bordeaux blend rather than Margaret River. There's a charcuterie/sausage character through the finish. Very attractive and quite unexpected. Will age prodigiously.
