Woodlands Cabernet Franc Merlot ‘Emily’ Special Reserve 2021

$70.00 inc. GST

The ‘Emily’ blend, 45% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon & 1% Petit Verdot.

The colour is an intense deep crimson. The nose shows strawberry, black cherry and chai spice. The oak is prominent at this stage but will settle in time.The palate is very powerful. The Cabernet Franc flavours of violet and blackcurrant dominate, supported by vanilla, cocoa, and sweet spices. Very fine but firm at the moment – destined for long term cellaring.

 

“Lovely gravelly blackcurrant fruit – reminiscent of the 1989 Emily. This is one of our best Emily’s.” Woodlands Winery

Description

Woodlands has been producing ‘Emily’ since 1989. Woodlands had almost ceased production at the time, and almost all of the Cabernet Sauvignon fruit was sold each year. David Watson and his great friend Peter Anderson discussed what to do with the remaining Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, and a little Cabernet Sauvignon. The idea came to make a “right bank” Saint-Émilion blend and call it “Emily”.

When the decision was made to purchase the Woodlands Brook Vineyard, we certainly believed its existing plantings to be serendipitous – no Cabernet Sauvignon (yet), but there was Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot planted on a gentle north facing slope of sandy loam.  So, from 2008 ‘Emily’ became both our expression of the “right bank” blend, and the expression of that site at Woodlands Brook. This wine is made in very limited quantities, with only 300 cases being able to be produced each year.

Like all red wines at Woodlands, this wine was destemmed and sorted by our gravity fed system. Once harvested and in the winery, the fruit was delivered to the destemmer by a vibrating hopper, where the stems are removed by a swinging motion. Once destemmed, the fruit passed over a vibrating sorting table. Following fermentation this wine was matured in French oak barrels for 14 months, of which forty percent were new.

 

Additional Information
size

750ml

brand

Woodlands

Reviews/Awards/Ratings