$32.00
This wine is dedicated to our dad, Alexander Murray Forbes. Murray (as he was known to everybody) worked tirelessly planting, and then trellising, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes, with me, back in 1970’s. Murray’s friendly good humour always came to the fore in those long days in the vineyard.
I believe that these three varieties work particularly well in the cooler climate and terroir of the Eden Valley area. The renowned structure and longevity of Cabernet Sauvignon provides the backbone to the Alexander Murray wines. The first blend I made under this label was in 2010 and it proved magnificent. Particularly once it had achieved a few years of age in the bottle. Unfortunately, in both 2011 and 2012, the weather gods determined that the later ripening Cabernet Sauvignon would not achieve full maturity and I chose not to include it for this label. (The 2013 blend went to make our delicious sparkling red.) Little did I, (or Murray), realise that the Eden Valley climate, although very liveable and usually fantastic for grapes, would make this variety, and therefore the blend, sometimes difficult to achieve.
In 2014, when all the varieties did achieve full ripeness, the soft cherry/blackberry overtones from the Merlot are supported by the complex characters generated by the Cabernet Sauvignon and topped off by the fruit lift from the Cabernet Franc. This complex bundle of flavours, with layer upon layer of “berry” characters, makes this wine a delight to drink either with food or on its own. It is exciting to be able to get this blend together again, and I believe this wine will age well for at least another ten years from 2017.
Alcohol 13.9%