2022 Merlot | Pepper Bridge Vineyard

Supple, red-fruited Merlot with lift, savory detail, and quiet depth.

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THE PLACE
Pepper Bridge sits directly behind the winery on elevated terraces shaped by Ice Age floods, with mineral-rich loess over deeper flood silts and cooler air pulling down from the Blue Mountains. The site gives Merlot clarity, freshness, and a composed finish. This bottling is also the final harvest from a small old-vine section removed the following year for a road expansion.

TASTING NOTES
Red fruit and black cherry lead, with the rounded texture Merlot does so naturally well, but without heaviness. With air, sandalwood and a faint cinnamon note emerge, more old cellar than sweetness. Fine-grained tannins, freshness, and a quiet savory edge carry the wine through a clean, persistent finish.

PAIRINGS
• Roast chicken or duck with pan juices
• Pork with mushrooms and thyme
• Lentils or farro with roasted root vegetables
• A great burger

IN THE CELLAR
• Harvested Oct 4; three-day cold soak with daily foot treading
• Native open-top fermentation
• Five weeks on skins
• 24 months on gross lees in French oak, half once-used and half neutral
• No racking until bottling; unfined and unfiltered
• 15 months bottle rest before release

IN YOUR GLASS
Give it air and let it unfold. The fruit becomes broader and more expressive while the spice, savory detail, and fine tannins settle into place.