Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Merlot 2022

As is always the case, picking was done by hand, then the fruit is delivered to the winery to be destemmed and sorted. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were transferred to small open tanks and seeded with multiple yeast strains for primary fermentation. Once this was underway each batch was hand plunged 3 times per day and time on skins varied from 13 to 16 days. Temperatures are controlled to a maximum of 32°C. Merlot is treated slightly differently and placed into closed tanks, where it was chilled to 10°C and allowed to cold soak. After 48 hours, the cooling was turned off and the temperature returned to ambient. Once it had reached 18°C the batches were seeded with multiple yeast strains for primary fermentation and pumped over 3 times per day, with temperatures also controlled to 32°C. After pressing to stainless steel tanks, each batch underwent malolactic fermentation and was then adjusted with SO2 and racked to barrel. All barrels were 228 litre French oak barriques and 21% were new. In September 2023, all the different batches were racked and blended in stainless steel. The blended wine was then returned to barrel, for the final period of aging, where it stayed until July 2024. In all, the wine spent 26 months in wood. It was racked to stainless steel and fining trials were prepared but none of the agents improved the wine and so it remain unfined. It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 2nd August, 2024.