Melba Amphora 2019

The 'Melba' brand pays tribute to renowned operatic soprano diva, Dame Nellie Melba. De Bortoli's 'Melba Vineyard' at Dixon's Creek has a rich history of exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon dating back to the 1970s.

The Melba Amphora is an exciting new winemaking direction for Steve Webber and his team. The wine is fermented in 1000 L amphoras and left on skins for 120 days, followed by 150 days of maturation.

Bright red in the glass, the wine has haunting, ethereal, autumnal aromas. It has a fine structure with supple tannins, a gentle earthiness and great complexity of flavour.

First planted in 1971 with additional plantings in 1987, 1988 and 1990. For over 30 years the best parcels of Cabernet have been carefully managed to produce grapes with full concentrated flavour and firm fine tannins.

The fruit is hand picked, meticulously sorted and destemmed to 1,000L Amphoras. The skins are hand plunged during fermentation, the amphora is topped and the wine sits quietly for 150 days soaking up colour from the skins and softening the tannin. The fruit and wine that has already started to soften, is removed from the Amphora, pressed from the skins and then matured for a further 150 days in older French oak. The wine is then gravity racked, settled and packaged into bottles for at least 150 days

150 days in older French oak and bottles for at least 150 days.

These full bodied wine styles match well with: Red Meats - T Bone Steaks; Stews; Lamb Shanks Italian Food - Meatier sauces; Osso Bucco; Chicken Cacciatore