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 & The Myburgh Family

Meerlust Estate has a long history: the Myburgh family have been making wine at the estate for eight generations since 1756. Owner Hannes Myburgh (who studied winemaking at Geisenheim, Germany and Chateau Lafite) continues to maintain the family tradition of the art of fine wine-making. The modern era began in 1975 when Hannes’ father, Nico, first produced a Cabernet Sauvignon which won the overall trophy at the South African Championship Wine Show. This wine was joined by their most famous wine, the Meerlust Rubicon Cape blend, when the 1980 vintage was released in 1984. The winemaker since 2018 is Altus Treurnicht. He is assisted in the cellar by a proficient cellar team and works jointly with viticulturist Izak Basson.

Meerlust Estate Vineyards

Meerlust Estate consists of 110 hectares of vineyards located 15 kilometres to the south of Stellenbosch and 5 kilometres away from False Bay. The Estate is ideally positioned for the production of characterful and complex wines. The cooling ocean breezes and evening mists in the summertime allow the grapes to ripen slowly and thereby gain full, complex, rich and robust varietal characteristics.

The soils are similar to those of Bordeaux; they are 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. The estate is mainly planted with red varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and a little Petit Verdot, with some Chardonnay for white wines.

Meerlust Pinot Noir Vineyards

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 subsoil. 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.

Meerlust Pinot Noir Winemaking

• 100% Pinot Noir.
• Grapes were handpicked and selected in the coolness of morning
• 100% of the whole bunches were manually transferred to tanks.
• Partial un-inoculated fermentation took place with careful pigeage twice daily before pressing directly into French oak tight tight-grained Hogsheads for malolactic fermentation.
• 25% of the wine was raised in a new 2500 L French oak foudre, with the balance being matured in 60% new tight-grain Allier oak and 40% second-fill 300-litre casks.