2007 The Hermit Crab

© Erik Loebeke

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Harvest Dates
8 February to 28 March
Oak Maturation
4% in 5 yr old and older
French Oak Barriques
Alcohol by Vol:
13.5%
Glucose + Fructose:
2.4g/L
Titratable Acid:
6.2 g/L
pH:
3.48
Bottling:
From 19 November 2007
Chief Winemaker:
Chester d’Arenberg Osborn
Additional Information:
Vegetarian/ Vegan friendly

Other Vintages

"A perfumed white with a touch of green plum flavour. There are also faint apricot and herb overtones, and a suggestion of sweetness which adds to palate weight and texture.
Delicious drinking now- particularly with Thai cuisine"

The close proximity of the vineyards to the Gulf St. Vincent induces a beneficial cooling effect on the grapes. Many of McLaren Vale’s vineyards are on free-draining soils underlain with limestone, formed by the calcareous remains of the local marine fauna. One such creature was the Hermit Crab, a reclusive little crustacean that to this day inhabits the cast-off shells of others.
The Osborn family thought the name appropriate for this, McLaren Vale’s first ever Marsanne Viognier blend and the fact that “Hermit” is an abbreviation for the name of the region in France where the Marsanne grape variety dominates.

Clear brilliant appearance with tints of green and yellow suggesting a fresh young wine with little influence of oak. The aromatics are tighter than previous years due to the small volume of cool climate Adelaide Hills Viognier included in this blend. This influences the aromatics spectrum with a slightly increased note of green flower stems & ginger. Overall the aromas are a combination of the above with nectarine/peach stone notes, green melon rind, and citrus notes with a freshly ground almond background.

The palate is vibrant and expresses plenty of ripe fruit characters with good tightness and control. Flavours range from tropical fruits, nectarine juice, quince, ginger notes with a lovely dry, green melon character. There is plenty of intensity and softness with a hint of lees character to add a little more complexity. The finish has moderate length with good flowery, nutty, mineral notes that complete the wine in a most attractive manner. Chill and enjoy for any occasion.

2007 will be remembered as the earliest start to vintage ever due to extreme drought conditions not seen for decades. Overall winter rainfalls were a third of what we normally receive. With extremely dry conditions and cold spring temperatures leading up to the growing season affected the vines by producing very short shoot length which resulted in reduced bunch size, bunch weights and berry size. Just as vintage was to commence we experienced a 50mm rain which created considerable fruit splitting on many of our vineyards. This rain saved the vintage as it provided enough moisture in the ground to set the vines up for a stress-free final ripening period.

The grapes, once crushed were settled in tank before being basket pressed which ensures the gentle extraction of these varieties delicate fruit characters. The Marsanne is fermentation in tank to retain its more herbaceous and nutty characters while the Viognier is fermented in both tank and barriques to enable a wide spectrum of tropical and stone fruits characters to develop.