Colour:
Deep purple.
Aroma:
Classic varietal. Violet perfume, blackcurrant, nutty oak. Super lifted, very engaging.
Palate:
Medium-full bodied. Utmost finesse, poise. Richly flavoured, balanced elegance, pristine fruits. Natural tannin structure, backbone, lengthy dry finish. Classy cedary oak complexity. True-to-type Cabernet. Superb Poise.
Recommended Drinking:
Mature to 10 years.
The 2022 vintage was excellent. Winter was significantly wetter than average getting the vines off to a brilliant start leading into Spring which was cool with median rainfall. Summer was mild and dry apart from rain on the last day. Autumn remained mild with generally perfect mid-20s weather combined with cool nights ensuring steady even ripening across all varieties. The 2022 yields were good and the quality is great, a classic Barossa vintage displaying rich flavours with fine balance.
Merchant Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from a single vineyard that was planted on the Kalleske property at the end of last century. The hand-pruned vines are low-yielding and are grown in shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay, providing ideal conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon.
The grapes were crushed and all stalks were included in the fermenters to add tannin, structure and complexity. The native wild yeast from the vineyard were left to naturally ferment with temperature peaking at 30 degrees C. Heading down boards were used in the fermenters, completely submersing the skins and stalks in the fermenting juice to ensure gentle extraction. After 10 days on skins, the must was pressed to tank for natural malolactic fermentation and brief maturation prior to bottling. 1 year barrel. 33% new French oak.