Stella Bella Cabernet Merlot from Margaret River
Echoing the great Bordeaux blends, this wine offers a little more generosity of style than one might find in its French counterparts! Well structured but with soft, smoky, brambly fruit backed up by tobaccoey, vanilla laced oak ageing.
Stella Bella Cabernet Merlot packs a punch! Bright and charming, the perfume of Cabernet Sauvignon strikes you first, followed swiftly by its precise and structured palate. With its partner in crime Merlot providing the palate weight, with fruit generosity and richness.
This boutique winery in the heart of Margaret River creates idiosyncratic named ranges like Suckfizzle in a low interventionist and organic way keeping their approach as simple as possible to allow their cherished vineyards to show their quality.
It is not merely in the names where these wines are memorable, as once you have tasted them you will see why Luke Jolliffe, the winemaker, continues to receive recognition and awards from around the world for wines that have that wonderful Margaret River restraint and elegance, but are bound together with a fruit purity that makes them delectable.
The Cabernet sauvignon component was held on skins for 10 days to help build the structure of the wine. The merlot was pressed earlier to retain bright fruit aromatics, while still providing mid palate sweetness. The traditional Bordelaise winemaking technique of délistage was used during maceration to provide bright aromatics while increasing oxygen in order to help with tannin polymerisation. 10% new French oak was used on this wine to complement the fruit while providing some subtle mocha and vanillin oak sweetness. The wine was held in oak for 12 months and racked and returned twice before being fined with Margaret River free range eggs, filtered and bottled.
Appearance
Red, with purple hues.
Aroma
Violets, Satsuma plums and glazed cherries lift out of the glass in an explosive fashion. Followed by aromas of red currants, raspberries and subtle vanillin oak with a hint of smokiness.
Palate
Juicy, medium bodied and full of flavour. Red currants, cherries and blueberries fill the palate complemented by the dusty fine-grained tannin and precise structure. The refreshing acidity balances the supple tannin and red fruits for an extremely smash-able wine that leaves you wanting more.
Blend
87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot.
Food
A platter of freshly shaved meats of your choice.
Drink
Now until 2023.
Awards + Reviews
GOLD Medal – 2017 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards
91 points – Huon Hooke
To see our full range of Stella Bella product go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/stella-bella/
To see more information on the winery go to https://www.stellabella.com.au/
Stella Bella Cabernet Merlot
£19.99 a bottle
2 in stock
“Part of Suckfizzle under guidance of winemakers Stuart Pym and Janice McDonald.
The Stella Bella wines are the creation of fruit selected from vineyard sites and blends of sub-regions within Margaret River.
These wines provide the future production growth, with deference to the regional expression of Margaret River, and without compromising quality, individuality or character.
“
Regarded as one of Australia’s best wine producing regions. It is synonymous with a new era in Australian wine. Margaret River really began its vineyard life as a result of two research reports from Californian viticulturalist Professor Harold Olmo and the Western Australian scientist Dr John Gladstone. In 1965 Dr Gladstone’s report indicated that the region had all the attributes to produce world quality wines. This advise was acted on by Dr Tom Cullity who set up his Vasse Felix vineyard near Willyabrup, followed by Dr Kevin Cullen and his wife Di who set up Cullen Wines. The climate is regarded as ‘cool’ because of its long slow ripening season. This region is regarded along with Coonawarra and the Yarra Valley as one of the premium Cabernet Sauvignon areas in Australia. The main wine styles: Red – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet-Merlot, Shiraz; White – Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho.
“Australia produces it’s own unique style of Cabernet Sauvignon blend styles, unlike any others found throughout the world, with Shiraz. The fleshy Shiraz fruit weaves itself into the Cabernet’s framework, producing a wine with fabulous structure and flavour.
Alternatively there is the classic Bordeaux blends (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec etc) adding more complexity and lessening any harshness of the tannins.
There’s always one thing about Cabernet Sauvignon blends: the quality and character of Cabernet Sauvignon shines through.”
Stella Bella
Stella Bella
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Stella Bella
Stella Bella
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