Winery & Vintage Info
The 2018 Pepper Tree Merlot from South Australia's Limestone Coast has an enticing nose of black and red fruits with a spicy lift. The rich and soft palate is rounded with sweet berry fruits and savoury spice and well balanced by subtle oak. Fine tannins provide support for a long silky finish.
The Wrattonbully 2018 growing season got off to an unfortunate start with a severe frost in early November wiping out 75% of our crop. Conditions for the rest of the year remained favourable and the reduced crops ripened fully with very good tannin structures. In summary, very small crops but outstanding quality.
The vintage saw the wineries frost protection system in Coonawarra save the crop from the severe widespread frost that affected other vineyards. A long dry growing season produced good ripening conditions and yields were the best for many years. A very good year for Coonawarra.
Wrattonbully is located in the Limestone Coast wine zone. The prominent viticultural feature of the area is the series of ancient beach ridges and dunes which run roughly north-south through the area. These ridges are made up of soft crumbly limestone which weathers to produce the red and brown Terra Rossa clay loam soils so highly prized for grape growing. The ridges and dunes have elevations of up to 30m compared with the neighbouring regions to the south with Terra Rossa 'high' of less than 5m. The extra elevation on the Wrattonbully dunes produce the advantage of cold air drainage which reduces the risk of frost during the growing season.
The soils of Coonawarra consist of thin dark brown to dark grey clays interspersed with broken limestone fragments. The shallow soil overlies soft crumbly limestone at depths of as little as 10cm so that the vines effectively grow in limestone rock. The shallow soils restrict vigour & this, coupled with rigorous canopy management, allows us to control berry size and bunch numbers & thus eventual crop load. This control of crop level and berry size gives our winemakers the best possible starting material with which to create premium red wines. Winery Notes
