Bethany Cabernet Merlot 2006

NOTES

Johann Gottlob Schrapel and his family arrived in South Australia from Silesia on the ship “George Washington” in 1844, just eight years after the colony was settled. Like many of their fellow Germanic migrants they made their way by ox cart to Bethany, the Barossa Valley’s first settlement, where they established a home and cleared the land to grow crops and graze animals. The Schrapel’s planted their first vineyard in 1852 from cuttings carefully nursed from Europe. A wine cellar was also built, but despite Johann’s reputation as an early colonial winemaker, the family concentrated on grape growing rather than winemaking for the next four generations.

More than a century later in 1981, Johann’s fifth generation descendants, brothers Geoff and Robert Schrapel, established Bethany Wines in a quarry, where the pioneers had hewn stone for their homes, high in the Barossa Ranges overlooking the family’s vineyards and the historic village of Bethany.

TASTING NOTES

Made  from 70% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot grapes grown on the Schrapel family’s and neighbouring vineyards on South Australia’s Barossa. The deep garnet colour is quite youthful, but the nose and palate show more mature, rather soft, harmonious blackberry and mild spice characters, with just a hint of violets. The finish is well balanced with restrained tannins derived from nine months maturation in French and American oak barrels.