Dutschke - Barossa Valley - Willowbend

1999 Willowbend

Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon

I have been producing the WillowBend blend of Merlot Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon since 1990. The aim has been to produce a round, soft and flavoursome wine from those varieties that our vineyard produces best.

The 45% Merlot and 35% Shiraz provide the full ripe sweet fruit palate and the 20% Cabernet Sauvignon gives the spice and firm tannin structure. We have found the style of this wine over the last decade to be very consistent. The older “WillowBend’s” have also showed great complexing characters while still maintaining their fruit character.

The 1999 WillowBend Merlot Shiraz Cabernet has spicy round soft fruit flavours on both the nose and palate. The combination of both American and French oak has married well with these fruit characters to provide some underlying chocolate flavour with sweet vanillan oak.