2020 Le Puissant Malbec

This Malbec was super special, so we decided to bottle it as as one of our small volume, small batch wines. 

The name Le Puissant is the French translation for The Powerful One. Malbec is a French grape variety, and it’s power and strength comes about due it’s incredibly deep, inky purple colour, gravelly textured tannins and lovely dark berry, cherry, pomegranate and earthy flavours.

After harvesting in the cool of early morning, we crushed the grapes a couple of hours later into open topped fermenters. We ferment our malbec in the same way as our shiraz and cabernet sauvignon in an open topped fermenter, with alternating hand plunging, followed by draining off skins into a tank, then returning onto skins with lots of splashing and aeration, happening 2 to 3 times a day. We also barrel ferment a portion of the wine to add extra complexity. Once a day during the active part of ferment, after draining off skins, a portion of the shiraz ferment is returned into two new French barrels to ferment, with the balance being returned back onto the skins in the fermenters. This process is repeated every day for the next 5 to 6 days.

The wine completed fermentation through to dryness on skins in both the open topped fermenter and in the barrels, then it is pressed off through our basket press. Following fermentation, the malbec was matured for 2 years in a mix of 10% new, 20% two and three year old barrels, and 70% older french oak barrels.

The 2020 Le Puissant Malbec is a complex and intense wine with aromas of blackberries, pomegranates, raspberries, ripe mulberries, and dark chocolate, with a lifted floral character similar to violets. Complex flavours of blackberries, dark cherries and ripe plums unfold on the palate, complemented by gravelly textured tannins. This wine is approachable now and will cellar well for the next 8-10 years, or perhaps longer!