Jean Bouteille Pirate Merlot Semillon 2023

"Pirate is a field blend of 90% Merlot with 10% Semillon from Jeff Traeger organically farmed vineyard in Vine vale, East of the Barossa. The Vines are growing on deep sand over red clay & benefits from a good diurnal temperature to help phenolic ripeness. Jeff has been managing his vineyard organically without any herbicides, pesticides & other synthetic chemicals for more than 40 years. Sprays of organic Sulfur & Copper are very few due to a dry & windy growing season which help keep the disease pressure low. Both grappes are hand picked by ourselves on the same day & whole bunch tipped into a Fibreglass tank to undergo a week of carbonic maceration. After that week, we foot stomp the bunches to release their juice onto the skins to extract some colour & aromatic for about 10 hours. The must is then pressed in a horizontal screw press & the wine is transferred back to the fibreglass to finish it’s fermentation & undergo a 7 month élevage on its fine lees. Bottled on site in our Basket Range winery without fining nor filtration."
Jean Bouteille