2003 Howard Park Best Barrels Merlot Tasting Notes

Merlot remains, along with Pinot Noir, the red grape variety in Western Australia that has most frustrated winemakers with the variety consistently failing to produce great wine. Occasionally we are able to produce something special from Merlot mainly through intensive effort in the vineyard. From the 1995 vintage I selected 4 barrels of Merlot that were clearly head and shoulders above the rest and bottled the wine as Howard Park Best Barrels Merlot. Seven vintages past without seeing a parcel of Merlot as good until this wine from the 2003 vintage off the Howard Park Leston vineyard in the heart of the Wilyabrup Valley of Margaret River. The top 20 rows of Merlot in Block 1 of the Leston vineyard were chosen for special viticultural treatment: intensive shoot thinning, total fruit zone leaf plucking and 75% fruit thinning produced vines carrying a very light crop of Merlot with an open canopy and full fruit exposure. The resultant grapes and wine have a level of flavour concentration and textural complexity rarely seen in Merlot. The grape must was fermented in open topped fermenters with twice daily aerative pumpover to enhance colour and flavour extraction. The resultant wine matured for 18 months in French oak barriques.

This wine has great density of colour rarely seen in Merlot with a dark heart suggesting great fruit concentration. The aroma supports this suggestion with an intensity of fruit character only seen in top class wine. Ripe berry fruits with dark chocolate aromas are complemented by a cedary oak background. This wine has none of the weedy leafy characters seen so frequently in lesser Merlot. The palate is soft full and generous with sweet berry fruits supported by ripe silky tannin. The wine has extended flavour length.

This wine has all the attributes of concentration and mature tannin to suggest that it will grow and mature for some ten years.