Merlot

Domain Day Merlot is the logical end result of an extended Bordeaux adventure undertaken by Robin Day. In 1987 he worked the harvest in Pomerol and St Emilion with the famous Moeux group, owners of Chateau Petrus. For most of the harvest he worked at Chateau Laroque a Premier Grand Cru in St Emilion.

The winemaker at Laroque, Bruno Sainson, was first a kindred spirit but has become a firm friend. His constant challenging and questioning of winemaking dogmas together with his no nonsense approach made Robin Day feel very much at home.

Bruno Saison has since adopted the Australian approach of tasting his grapes in the vineyard to monitor fine flavour differences. In turn the structure and texture of Domain Day reds have a subtle Sainson influence as he was a major force in focusing Robin Day on where the red wine is really made -- in the cap of skins. The rest of the wine really is history.

The Merlot will be the first Domain Day wine to register the influence of the revolutionary irrigation technique -- partial root zone drying -- which augments the colour intensity with carefully limited water application.