2018 Picardy Merlot Cabernet

The vines are dry grown, cane pruned and handpicked, low yields are encouraged. In the winery the grapes are firstly destemmed, then transferred into small open fermenters to be hand plunged four times a day. This wine is then matured for 12 months in specially imported new to four year old small French oak barriques. Juicy red berries and mid- weight, plump fruit define the introduction to this wine. Sweet cocoa, raspberry, dark chocolate, sea salt, pomegranate and field strawberries are the notes, played in harmony and sync with the exotic market spice(star anise, aniseed and pink peppercorn). While this is succulent, it has a restrained leanness that balances out the fruit; the acidity is couched just behind the teeth and adds a subtle lift and chew to proceedings. This is a wonderful wine, all the more so through the lens of this glorious vintage.Ripe, balanced, supple and harmonious, and sure to offer a comfortable future ahead should that be the path that you choose.

The Pannell name needs no introduction in the Australian wine industry. The legendary Bill Pannell was instrumental in putting Western Australia on the fine wine map after planting vines on the renowned Moss Wood Vineyard at Margaret River in 1970 and producing some of Australia’s greatest Cabernet based wines. With the reputation of Moss Wood well and truly established, Bill sold Moss Wood and, together with son Dan, chose to turn their focus towards Burgundy in their new challenge – Picardy. They established the Picardy vineyard in WA’s cool Pemberton region from 1995 on a gentle north facing slope of well-drained loam/gravel soils at an altitude of 300 metres, just 35 kilometres from the cold Southern Ocean. Carefully selected Dijon clonal material of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay was planted at high density, to encourage competition and low yields per vine, and trained low as in Burgundy, to benefit from the heat radiating from the gravel soils in the evenings. Smaller amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz were also planted. The Pannells believe in “growing soils” and so manage the vineyard sustainably. Their meticulous detail among the vines includes crop thinning at veraison to reduce yields, removing any damaged or inferior fruit prior to harvest, and picking exclusively by hand.

Picardy is now well established as one of Western Australia’s finest producers and is arguably the finest Pinot Noir producer in the state, with Chardonnay and Merlot blends not far behind.

Enjoy this wine with braised beef short ribs and sautèed vegetables.

SHIPPING

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We are an Australian based company, licensed to sell alcohol across Australia. Currently we ship to all states except NT. All orders are packaged securely for a safe transit to you from our temperature controlled warehouse in Sydney.

DELIVERY

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