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Viticultural & vinification notes		Winemakers comments
Vintage conditions	A slightly warmer than usual vintage with a very dry spring and harvest starting a week early.	Colour   Nose       Palate	Deep red with a red hue.   Lifted aroma of black currant, bay leaf, red fruit, and black jubes with some attractive oak char and slight tomato leaf and eucolypt notes.   It is a medium to full bodied wine with noticeable fine tannin and bright fruit. The flavours are predominantly dark fruit with hints of red fruit, dark chocolate, fruit pastels and eucolypt. The wine has a good tannin structure ideally suited to aging.
Vineyard	Three Hills Hand pruned to rods Hand picked
Grape variety	Cabernet Sauvignon 46%, Merlot 46% and Malbec 8%.
Maturation	Wholly in barriques of fully imported 227 litre French oak for a period of 12 months.
Wine analysis	Alc/Vol:            14.0% Acidity:             6.6 g/l pH:                   3.77 Residual Sugar:< .1g/l

Our first Cabernet Merlot was produced in 1982. We have always felt that the merlot grape enhanced cabernet and in this case merlot at 35%, is more than a bit player. Indeed tasters sometimes suggest that the Merlot is dominant. Merlot extends the flavour, enhances the finish and performs in a very positive fashion.

The winemaking process begins in the vineyard. Maturity must be reached regardless of birds, rain or hungry kangaroos. Cabernet sauvignon is almost the last grapes to be picked and the pressure is considerable. We hand pick. The crusher is set up to destalk without crushing, the berries then pumped, largely intact, to an overhead fermenter to remain on skins for a long slow and warm ferment. The cap is thoroughly and continuously irrigated during and following fermentation to achieve an even temperature distribution and the necessary warmth for complete extraction. These grapes have an abundance of the components that make a red wine so highly coloured and flavoured. There is the fruit flavour to balance the structural components. This is no wine wimp.

The malo-lactic fermentation takes place in small wood. Whereas in the past we have made great use of 450 litre puncheons we today go to the extra expense of 225 litre barriques for the extra air that infiltrates the wine and the brighter aromas that develop.  The barrels add a component of tannin and vanillin aroma that is substantial yet, given the depth of flavour in the raw material, hardly apparent in the finished wine. After 12 months in barriques, interrupted by quarterly decanting, the wine is lightly filtered and bottle aged for twelve to 24 months prior to release.

The fruit acts as a velvet glove to surround a considerable quotient of tannin in a 'black' red wine.

Background: The Cabernet Merlot is the second largest volume red under the Happs label and is intense in flavour and character. The first is PF Red. Cabernet Sauvignon at about 65% has the dominant role yet Merlot at about 35%, is more than a minor player. Indeed tasters sometimes suggest that the Merlot is dominant. Merlot extends the flavour, enhances the finish and performs in a very positive fashion.

Our winemaking process begins in the vineyard. Maturity must be reached regardless of birds, rain or hungry kangaroos. The grapes are tasted to ensure that any herby green flavours have departed. Hand picking avoids premature damage. Berries are destalked then pumped, largely intact, to an overhead fermenter to remain on skins for a period of about three weeks. The cap is thoroughly irrigated during and following fermentation to achieve an even temperature distribution and a complete extraction of all those components that make a red wine so highly coloured and flavoured.

The Malolactic fermentation is completed in 225 litre oak barriques. The wine is lightly filtered and bottle aged for six to twelve months prior to release.

Colour: Deep crimson with a purple rim.

Bouquet and Palate: The generosity of fruit is the wines most appealing flavour characteristic, showing ripe berry characters that comprehensively mask the abundant tannins. The wine shows a range of flavours in succession. It is complex, yet supple. There is a deliberately restrained acidity that permits the play of other flavour components. Cabernet Merlot will complement the main course and yet agreeably accompany the sweets.

Cellaring: A most pleasing aspect is the manner in which the fruit acts as a velvet glove to surround and balance a considerable quotient of tannin. This yields early drinking pleasure. Red wines live on tannins and this wine will repay cellaring. Only then will all components thoroughly integrate and the wine presents its softest, most whimsical face.