Meerlust Pinot Noir, Stellenbosch

Description

Meerlust Pinot Noir is simply one of the classic and arguably one of the finest Pinot Noirs from the Cape. 

Meerlust Estate is one of the oldest and most prestigious South African Wineries in the Stellenbosch wine region. Meerlust has a long history and the Myburgh family have been making wine at the estate for eight generations since 1756. Current owner Hannes Myburgh (who studied winemaking at Geisenheim, Germany and at Chateau Lafite, continues to maintain the family tradition to the art of fine wine making. They are most famous for their Bordeaux style blend, Rubicon.

The estate consists of 110 hectares of vineyards located 15 kilometers to the south of Stellenbosch and 5 kilometers away from False Bay. The Estate is ideally positioned for the production of characterful and complex wines – there are cooling ocean breezes and evening mists in the summertime which allow the grapes to ripen slowly and thereby gaining full, complex, rich and robust varietal characteristics. The soil is similar to those of Bordeaux, it is deep well-draining Hutton and Clovelly soil types (decomposing granite and clay), ideal for wine-growing offering the vines good drought resistance and conditions for producing concentrated, complex wines.

Meerlust Pinot Noir is made from 3 different clones of Pinot Noir (115, 777 and BK5) with an average of 18 years old. The vines are situated on  loamy gravel topsoil with clay sub-soil. The vineyards are located at the highest point on the Estate (85-120m) with South facing aspect to benefit from the cool, maritime breeze from False Bay. In the vineyard there is 30% vendage vert (green harvesting cluster removal) at 50% veraison to ensure concentration and even ripening. Grapes are hand-picked and manually sorted prior to fermentation in small stainless steel cuves with regular pipeage for gentle extraction. Meerlust Pinot Noir was matured in 60% new Allier Hogsheads and 40% second fill Hogsheads for 11 months before bottling.