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Viticultural & vinification notes		Winemakers comments
Vintage conditions	A classic Margaret River vintage with ideal ripening conditions.	Colour Nose     Palate	Red with a slightly brick red hue. A lifted and complex aroma displaying black jubes, green plum, forest floor, dark chocolate and tomato leaf. This is a medium to full bodied wine with great fruit depth. The wine displays an abundance of dark fruit, bitter chocolate and black jubes characters with hints of earth, game and mint. The tannins are noticeable yet soft and fine and the palate length impressive for this variety.
Vineyard	Three Hills Hand pruned to rods Hand picked
Grape variety	100% Merlot
Maturation	12 months in a mix of new, 1 and 2 year old French oak barriques.
Wine analysis	Alc/Vol:          14.2% Acidity:            6.5 g/l pH:                 3.60 Residual Sugar:<0.1g/l

The Three Hills vineyard is located in the southern extremity of the Margaret River appellation.

There are no absolute standards of grape varietal expression.  Each of the 10,000 varieties that we have at our disposal will reflect the environmental circumstances that are responsible for the growth of the plant and, more especially, the maturation of the fruit. In the far south western corner of Western Australia climatic circumstances are driven by the almost unchanging temperatures of the oceans that make up more than two thirds of the surface area of the southern hemisphere. The air masses move from the Indian ocean onto the land and it is these conditions that drive fruit maturation for Merlot in late April in the far south west corner of Western Australia. The vineyard is 10 Km from both the Southern and the Indian Oceans. Consequently, the expression of the variety that we see in Three Hills is different to anything else in Australia.

We have four blocks of Merlot at Three Hills and the best is the first planted Block 4, a dry gravely slope with a laterite backbone and a northern exposure. It is the mainstay of this wine.

On the vine the expression of the fruit is akin to plum and fruitcake and in the wine it is liquorice fruitcake plum, and flowers. In the mouth it is voluminous, friendly and long.

Silver Medal Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2009

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James Halliday: Good colour; strong varietal expression might have been stronger still at more moderate alcohol levels; not clear why picking should have been so delayed; Ribena-like flavours with some black olive notes. Cork. 15.5% alc. Rating 89 Drink 2015 $36 Date Tasted Feb 09

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