2021 Lucy M L'énorme Melot

VARIETAL: Merlot
REGION: Basket Range, Adelaide Hills, SA
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
WINEMAKER: Anton Von Klopper

The merlot is grown at the Magpie Springs farm in the Hope Valley. It has sandy soil and is at the top of a hill near the ocean with strong ocean breezes sometimes. The grapes are destemmed and saignéed, leaving a very concentrated skins to guide ratio, it is fermented in an open top 2000l oak barrel and foot plunged once a day for three weeks. It is pressed into small old French oak barrels where it ages and settles. Thin black silk dresses on a summer evening with and a cello bowing deep rich sounds. The jacarandas waving in the richness of cranberry, black currant juices lush tasty tannic lips. So good even Dracula would give up his blood for a taste.

"The 2021 vintage was really good for us. It started with a wet spring which also benefited our new plantings of Trousseau, Grenache Blanc, Gamay, Garganega, Sangiovese….. (a mixed bag) with sunny windless days around flowering which led to good fruit set.. This was followed by a cool summer which keep the vines calm with even slow ripening. Thank you for your kindness Demeter for the bountiful harvest."

"We are proud of being among the first natural winemakers in Australia with the first vintage in 2007 and now to have achieved making wines that are chemical free. But our commitment to human health has led us to trying to make wines with lowers alcohols by picking early and changing of winemaking techniques because we feel that a wine at 11.5-12% or lower is better for you and more enjoyable socially. In the last couple of years we have worked on reducing VA, mousiness and lacticobacillis fermentation in bottle, common challenges in making natural wine. Making natural wines that are sound is an art and a skill but there is no better wine to drink!"