2017 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Franc Merlot

The Merlot and Cabernet Franc were hand harvested from the Whalebone Vineyard and delivered at night to the Tapanappa Winery in the Piccadilly Valley.The grapes were destemmed, lightly roller crushed and chilled to 5C on the way to 0.85 tonne fermenting tubs. The crushed must was cold soaked on skins for 3 days before the fermentation was initiated. After fermentation began the tubs were hand plunged daily, fully immersing the skins in the fermenting juice. The fermentation lasted for 11 days after which the wine was left on skins for a 7-day maceration under inert gas cover.The Merlot and Cabernet Franc wines were separately gently pressed away from the skins and immediately gravitated to French oak barriques, 60% new and 40% single use, to undergo malo-lactic fermentation. At the end of malo-lactic fermentation the wines were racked off gross lees and returned to barrique for a further 18 months of maturation.In December 2018 the wines were clear racked from the barriques and blended, 65% merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc. The finished wine was bottled in February 2019.The post bottling analysis of Tapanappa 2017 Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Franc Merlot isAlcohol 14.5%pH 3.52Total Acid 5.53gplSulphur 92ppmVolatile Acid 0.51gpl