Tasting Notes 1991
1991 Awatea Cabernet/Merlot is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.
It has a deep ruby colour, an aroma of plums and berries with suggestions of mint and cedar. It has a full palate with long, firm tannins.
Its ageing potential is 4-8 years from harvest.
Technical Analysis
pH: 3.56
Total acidity as tartaric: 5.6g/l
Alcohol: 13%
Residual sugar: Dry
Winemaking
The grapes, drawn from several blocks close to the winery, were hand-harvested, then fermented in individual lots using techniques such as cap plunging and extended maceration.
Following pressing the wine was aged for nineteen months in 225 litre barrels, half of them new, during which time it was progressively blended.
Vineyards
1991 Awatea Cabernet/Merlot was harvested between the 4th and the 26th April.
Origin
Awatea takes its name from the legendary ship SS Awatea (a Maori word meaning ‘Eye of the Dawn’) that sailed the Auckland - Sydney - Wellington route in the late 1930’s. The Awatea was requisitioned as a troop transport in WWII and was sunk off Algeria in 1942.
