Plaisir de Merle Cabernet Sauvignon, Paarl

Description

Plaisir de Merle Cabernet Sauvignon is made at one of the most historic wines estates in the Cape. The estate was etablished by the French Huguenots in 1693 on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountains between Paarl and Franschhoek.

A Distell showpiece, the 974 hectare Plaisir de Merle estate in Simondium, Paarl, has earned international acclaim for its white and red wines. Winemaker since 1992 is Niel Bester who attributes the benefits of working with great fruit coming from a very unique terrain and the invaluable input from his viticulture team. The estate consisted of around 400 hectares of vineyards planted with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz and Malbec, although only about 80 hectares are used for Plaisir de Merle wines.

The grapes for the Plaisir de Merle Cabernet Sauvignon come from vineyards are located between 180m and 400m above sea level where high mountain peaks shade the vineyards from the hot, late afternoon sun. This slows down ripening, resulting in wines with a very typically rich fruit complexity and well-ripened tannins. After harvest, the grapes are  destalked and fermented in stainless steel tanks. The juice was pumped over the skins daily to extract colour, tannins and flavour. Once fermentation was completed, the wine was left on the skins for a further 5 – 10 days to macerate. The wine was racked off the skins and malolactic fermentation was completed, partially in barrels and in the tanks. The wine is them aged for 12 to 16 months in French oak barrels.