Description: This fresh, bright and lively Rosé made from Merlot is packed with cherry, redcurrant, passionfruit and watermelon flavours, and finishes dry. Drink chilled, with dappled sunshine.

 Description:

When our founder, Dinny Killen, originally planted Merlot vines in 1988, the planting material actually contained more Cabernet franc than Merlot, and a small number of Cabernet sauvignon vines were thrown in for good measure. The resulting 'vineyard blend' produces lovely fragrant wines, with a little leafy complexity in cooler years, and darker berry fruit in the warmer years, such as 2004. The wine was originally labelled 'Merlot' and then 'Cabernet franc Merlot' and now simply 'Dinny's Block' but the blend has remained essentially the same (the 2004 includes some Cabernet franc from the north block, but this patch has since been grafted to Shiraz).

 Description:

The 2007 Merlot is particularly fragrant, with a mantle of dusty blackcurrant and mulberry fruit covering more savoury flavours of earth and game. This firmly structured wine will develop beautifully over five to ten years.

Merlot struggles a little in our vineyard, with the smallest vine canopies of any variety, light open bunches and small berries. These are packed with flavour, colour and tannin, making wines that ooze chocolate-cherry fruit and can become a little too tannic if not carefully managed in the winery. Time in barrel is very important for softening the wine, and ironically for our least expensive red wine, we use a small proportion of some very expensive barrels - we find that Tonnellerie Nadalie (Bordeaux) make barrels with a deep cedary character that really suits this wine. Several years in bottle really help make the wine more succulent too.

 Description:

Shiraz works well in some regions and perhaps not in others, but there is no doubting that it is adaptable. The same might be said of one or two other varieties, but the thing that makes Shiraz interesting is that it really expresses regional differences. There are a number of regions in Australia that excel with the cool-climate, more spicy style of Shiraz, and the Canberra District is right up there. If you doubt this, its time to have a look at the wines!

Not only are there very good wines being made in the Canberra District, but we're seeing significant differences between vineyards. Having made our wine for several years ('99 to '05 vintages) at the Brindabella Hills winery, we're familiar with their style, which is very fragrant and fine (see this review by Chris Shanahan) while our Shiraz tends to be darker and more muscular. We recently had a preview of five different vineyard components for a Clonakilla Canberra District Shiraz, and the diversity in aromatics and structure was striking - different vineyards, same winemaker.