Leconfield Coonawarra Merlot 2016

Leconfield is situated in the heart of Australia’s famous Coonawarra with its rich Terra Rossa soil over limestone providing the ideal environment for growing premium Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard was founded in 1974 by pioneering oenologist Sydney Hamilton who at 76 years of age had the dream to produce the classic Australian red wine. Time has validated his choice of Coonawarra as a fantastic place to do just that. Today the estate is planted predominantly to Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller patches of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Shiraz and complemented with the white varieties of Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Careful fruit selection from grapes grown on our Hamilton block in southern Coonawarra is the source of this wine. Vines were planted in 1987. Our aim is to make a stylish Merlot with great depth of flavour and structure, in which oak plays an important, but not prominent, role in the structure of the wine.

For the second consequetive year, the 2015-2016 growing season was much drier than average with our vineyards receiving only 40% of the average annual rainfall from August to March. Despite that, excellent fruit set provided a more fruitful crop compared with recent years. February's maximum temperature was about average, but all other months from October to March had warmer maximum and minimum temperatures, leading to earlier flowering, veraison and ripening. Our white varieties were picked in February to take advantage of lovely natural acidity. The red harvest was the ealiest that we can remember and the small berry size of the grapes produced full, rich styles with deep red colours and ripe tannin structure. 2016 is again an outstanding year in Coonawarra across all varieties.

10% New French, 47% 3 year old French, 43% 3 year old American oak. Matured for 15 months. Winery Notes