Winemaker's comment

Our Medalla Real Gold Medal has a very deep purple ink color. The nose is rich and full of dark blue fruit like blueberries, blackberries, dried figs and some soft spice notes. The wine has a sweet attack and a rich mid palate. The mouth has intense rounded ripe tannins that create the prominent backbone that leads the wine into a long creamy dark fruit finish.

Sebastián Labbé

Winemaker for Viña Santa Rita’s Ultra Premium wines

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Vineyard

100% of the grapes come from our vineyards in Alto Jahuel. The vines, aged 15-20 years, are train using a vertical shoot position system. Shoot removal in early spring and leaf pulling after flowering are normal vineyard management techniques used to obtain good tannin ripening and minimize the unripe herbal character of the grapes at harvest. The Cabernet Sauvignon was picked in the second half of April with a beautiful balance and ripening. Cabernet Franc was picked the second week of April reaching excellent flavours and soft texture.

Vinification

The grapes were gently destemmed and crushed, leaving some whole berries intact into the ferment. A cold maceration was carried out prior to fermentation. The temperature was raised to 15ºC (59ºF) prior to inoculation with selected yeasts. Some batches were fermented with native yeasts.

Fermentation was carried out at 25-28°C (82°F). Daily delestages during the first 2/3 of fermentation and short open pump overs and were performed twice daily throughout the entire process to improve extraction. Once the fermentation was completed, some selected tanks remained on its skins for 8 days to reach greater tannin texture and softness. The wine is pressed, using vertical and pneumatic presses, where the use of wine press becomes an important addition into the final blend adding grip and length.

Aging

The wine was aged for 14 months in old barrels (second and third use).