Break a Leg, Merlot, 2020

I like to take varieties with a challenging reputation and see what I can do with them. My father-in-law loves Merlot as a ‘smooth drinking wine’ and I always had this at the back of my mind. Produced from grapes in the Blauklippen Valley just below Keermont, Chris Alheit found this block of dry-farmed Merlot and alerted Lukas to it. Red clay and granite soils. Extractions are gentle, favouring pumpovers rather than pigeage, and in Lukas’ words ... we don’t have too much new world fruit sweetness here, it tastes quite European, so I decided to buy better barrels – 2nd and 3rd fill French oak. Bottled 22nd December. A sumptuous, red fruit, hugely aromatic wine that delivers a lot of enjoyment from the word go, it certainly over-delivers on its price.