Tasted late in 2018, the 2016 Meerlust Merlot was already showing great approachability and charm. The dark fruit and opulence of the wine is immediately apparent. We have been refining the viticulture to produce more balanced, flavourful fruit. Intense dark brambly fruit on the nose, mulberry, liquorice and damson plum with hints of dark chocolate and spice, tempered by a stony minerality. The medium-full bodied palate offers generous, ripe, pure Merlot fruit with refreshing acidity, structured yet silky tannins and pronounced length and minerality. There is a core of juiciness, opulence and richness typical of the variety, while the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot lend greater complexity to the wine.
The Producer
A tour of the estate, situated fifteen kilometers south of Stellenbosch, reveals its graceful manor house, classical wine cellar, rose gardens, family cemetery, dovecote and bird sanctuary.
The first owner of the property, a German immigrant named Henning Huising, recognized the beauty and potential of the farm and settled here in 1693. He named his new-found home "Meerlust", meaning "pleasure of the sea", as the manor house sits on a granite outcrop only 5 km from False Bay, and in the warm summer months the vineyards are refreshed by ocean breezes and evening mists which roll in from the coast.
Visitors to the Estate - a National Monument - have for centuries anticipated seeing the cool, white façade of the Manor House as they passed through the gates and along the palm and oak tree-lined drive. Not much has changed. Today, that sense of having arrived at a most treasured home and estate is enhanced by the knowledge - on seeing the sweep of vineyards that flank the drive - that here grow the grapes of the prized Meerlust wines.
Contemporary Meerlust is an exciting fusion of the refreshingly modern and the tirelessly classical.
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