SOLD OUT

Dornier Cocoa Hill Rose 2011

Through the winemaking efforts we focus on three facets of this wine: colour, aroma and taste. Of course it has to be the light salmon color of this wine that initially attracts one, however upon further investigation you will experience its fine concentration of fruit ranging from strawberries, violet and hints of freshly cut grass and nuances of vanilla and even caramel. The palate combines all these flavours with a full and rich mouthfeel, leaving one with a fresh aftertaste and lively acidity of this dry Rosé.

With its alluring colour this wine is a good pair with fresh salmon, cold meats, lobster, salads, lighter pastas and even complements tomato based dishes that one usually struggles to find suitable wine matches for. Also great with sushi.

variety : Merlot [ 100% Merlot ]
winery : Dornier Wines
winemaker : JC Steyn
wine of origin : Stellenbosch
analysis : alc : 13.5 % vol  rs : 3.3 g/l  pH : 3.35  ta : 5.7 g/l  va : 0.3 g/l  
type : Rose  style : Dry  
pack : Bottle  closure : Screwcap  

in the vineyard : Initially we predicted 2011 to be a very short harvest. It started off slightly later for us and due to some extremely hot spells towards the end of February we anticipated that it would end a lot earlier than usual. This would have made things very difficult in the cellar as one only has so many hours within a day to process the grapes. Fortunately the weather did play along and with some patience it cooled down, even providing us with a few light showers to alleviate some of the heat stress on the later Cabernet Sauvignon varieties. Overall the quality was good and resultant wines balanced with lots of finesse.

in the cellar : This year, due to prevailing weather conditions, resulted in the Merlot being the far superior variety thereby making the 2011 exclusively Merlot. The grapes were harvested, and after destemming and crushing, spent 14 hours in the press before a light pressing. The resultant pink juice then fermented for 12 days at 13.5 degrees fermentation and spent a further 4 months on full lees to provide fullness and body to the wine.

find our wines in :