Name: Saint Clair Merlot
Brand: Saint Clair wines
SKU: 54510
Price: 15.31 GBP
Availability: InStock

Saint Clair Merlot 2018

With it's warm lingering finish you can be sure of a warm reception to this wine. Equally well matched to barbeques in the summer months or grilled or roasted beef, lamb, wild game, or pasta dishes in the winter. Ripe plums, cherries, boysenberries, and spicy oak flavours give it a rich christmas cake taste that works wonderfully with cheese. An ideal wine for giving as gifts at Christmas or drinking on boxing day this bottle can be drunk now or aged a little longer for a different taste.

Wine Information

The Saint Clair Family Estate was first settled by the Sinclair family. One of the estate's pioneers, James Sinclair is closely associated with the founding of the town of Blenheim. Neal and Judy Ibbotson have owned the estate since 1978, transforming it from a vineyard to a full wine making facility and joining the ranks of Marlborough winemakers to produce fine New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and other premium wines. The very first vintage from Saint Clair Wines won awards upon its release in 1994. Saint Clair's susttainable approach to winemaking involves open canopy with good light and airflow, minimal use of sprays to control pests, and care given to individual vines to encourage good production. For instance, the vineyard employs leaf plucking and thinning of fruits and shoots. They also encourage selection without cultivation as another of their sustainable practices. They have been using a grading system since 2001 as a management tool and for assessing the quality of each vineyard's wine batches.

Vinification

The fruit for this wine was harvested from several low cropping vineyards within Marlborough, primarily Saint Clair's Rapaura Road Vineyard. The fruit was then de-stemmed into small stainless steel fermenters for a four-day cold soak before being fermented with selected yeasts and hand plunged up to six times daily during the height of fermentation. After pressing, the wine was racked and underwent malolactic fermentation fro enhanced integration of tannin and flavour. After ageing on lees for six months the wine was blended, lightly egg-white-fined, balanced and carefully prepared for bottling.

Tasting Note
A medium-bodied Merlot with lifted aromas of plums, currants, chocolate and mushroom with hints of spicy, toasty oak.

Everyday Serving Suggestion
Saint Clair Merlot is best served at room temperature to accompany barbecued or grilled beef; or lamb with seasonal vegetables.

Awards
Bronze (IWC 2010)

Country / Region / Appellation
NZ / Marlborough / Marlborough

Winemaker

Hamish Clark

Additional Resources:
http://www.saintclair.co.nz/

FAQ'S

Can you explain your shipping charges?

We charge the amount the courier charges us to deliver the wines. In the majority of cases this is £10.00 for a dozen wines. For local delivery we charge £5.00 as we can often do this ourselves, by local we mean Milton Keynes.

Couriers charge by weight and size and a case of wines is both heavy and bulky and so the costs are fairly high. The charges are the same if you are buying 1 bottle or 6 bottles but they change if you go over 6 bottles due the the excess weight and size. Couriers also charge a fee to cover fuel excess and this all goes towards the total cost not to mention the 20% VAT to be added to everything.

Currently if someone orders a dozen wines they are charged £10.00 but if they order 24 bottles the charge is the same!

If you wish to have your wines shipped to other countries the costs are extreemly high and often not worth paying for. The cost for example to ship to the USA for a dozen wines would be £100.00 for the shipping alone! Therefore we have taken the decision not to ship any wines outside of the UK.

What is your minimum order?

The minimum order is 1 bottle! I prefer it if people order more and you get better value with the delivery if you do this too!

What if I want to send wine as a gift?

No problem, we will send to your preferred address and even include a card free of charge!

We have two kinds of cards a blank one and a Thank you one. However if you want a Valentines one or a birthday card or anyother type of card please let us know. We will write your personal greeting and even include the soppy stuff. We don't charge for the cards as its our way of thanking you for choosing us to send a gift to your loved one.

What about a discount?

I may be able to take a little off the price if you ask nicely and there is a large enough order. Please do not ask for a discount on any orders under 12 bottles. Email me with your requirements and I will let you know if I can do anything. However the best way to get a discount is to sign up for the newsletter as there is often special offers given away to newsletter subscribers.

Saint Clair Merlot