Norfolk Rise Merlot

Location and Aspect

Norfolk Rise Vineyard is located on the southern tip of South Australia and is renowned for its rugged coastline, exotic seafood and long, white sandy beaches. Heavily influenced by a unique microclimate, our Norfolk Rise Vineyard captures the specific regional characteristics of Mount Benson in producing cool climate wines of the highest calibre.

The Vineyard

Situated in the heart of Mount Benson, the Norfolk Rise Vineyard is planted on 180 hectares of undulating coastal hills. Within 5 kilometres of the ocean at 37 degrees south of the equator, our Cabernet Sauvignon is planted on near perfect “terra rossa”soils, providing an ideal level of nutrient and water retention. Completely surrounding our winemaking facility, Norfolk Rise Vineyard has been, without compromise, planted specifically to suit each individual variety.

Winemaking

These grapes were selectively harvested from our Estate vineyards in Mount Benson from mid to late March. The grapes were picked, immediately de-stemmed and crushed. Fermentation occurred in a combination of small stainless steel static fermenters and Ganimede fermenters following a brief cold soak. The wine was matured in a selection of one, two and three year old French oak barriques for 12 months prior to bottling. One parcel was kept in stainless steel to retain fresh, primary fruit characters to add in to the final blend. The wine underwent light filtration prior to bottling.