NELSON ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON MERLOT

Tasting notes:

The Nelson Estate is an intense dark garnet colour.

The nose shows powerful dark fruits of blackberry, blackcurrant, plum and slightly lighter red fruits. There is a pronounced touch of cedar wood and tobacco, very slight pepper and Moorish spice.

The palate is again intense and lovely, with fine, well integrated and smooth tannins, more blackcurrant and plum and lingering spiciness on the finish. This is a lovely, brooding red wine. 

About the wine:

The grapes were carefully picked at full ripeness. Prior to fermentation 30% of the juice was removed from the skins to enhance the extraction of colour and flavour.

Fermentation was temperature controlled at 25 - 30°C during which time frequent pump-overs took place. After alcoholic fermentation the grapes was pressed and left on the yeast lees through-out Malolactic fermentation.

The wine was then aged for 18 months in 100% New French oak barrels.

About the producer:

It is well documented that during the religious wars of the 17th Centurey, many of the French Protestants, including some famous winemakers from the Loire, fled to Holland where they were prevailed upon by the Dutch East India Company to emigrate to the Cape in order to improve its fledgling wine industry.

Old mud and stone buildings on the estate and an ancient underground cellar suggest that the farm that is now the Nelson Creek Estate was one of the first in the Paarl region to be selected for winemaking by these early pioneers.

In pursuit of a childhood dream, Alan Nelson acquired these farms in 1987 out of a bankrupt estate. Since then, they have been lovingly restored by the Nelson family and their team of dedicated workers. Between 1987 and 1994 approximately 50 hectares of old vines were replaced under the watchful eye of the best viticulture consultants in the Cape with noble cultivars, including Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot; Shiraz; Pinotage; Sauvignon Blanc; Chardonnay and Semillon.

Between 1993 and 1995, a state of the art wine cellar was constructed with the help of Elsenburg oenologist Eugene van Zyl. Wine production commenced in earnest in 1995. The very next year, the Estate won an award for the Best Chardonnay in South Africa and was in the same year crowned as the Champion Private Wine Producer in the Boland region. Since then the Estate has never looked back. The Estate has become internationally known as Nelson's Creek, named after the Nelson family and the small stream that winds its way through the Estate. It inspired and is depicted on the unique two-part label.