Five Oaks Vineyard

2016 FIVE OAKS VINEYARD YARRA VALLEY MERLOT

RRP $40 / 2031

38yo vines, hand-picked, crushed and destemmed, open-fermented, 13 days on skins, matured for 18 months in 1yo French oak. Bright, full, clear crimson; an elegant, juicy medium-bodied wine that has been well made, and entices you to drink it just through its colour in the first place, thereafter by its pure cassis and spice. Old clone (3DV14), and difficult to do better. 12.9% alc.

WINEMAKERS Wally and Judy Zuk What do you love about aged wine?

What we like is the roundness of palate and complexity that wines develop with bottle ageing, particularly when they still retain some of the primary fruit characters. This is the case with our Merlots, which, while very approachable when young, with cabernet-like dark-fruit primary flavours and generous tannins, develop in this way after five or six years in bottle, and go on to drink well for five to 10 years beyond that.