When we bottle a wine (whether single variety or blend) it needs to be unique in some respect; it needs to ‘speak’ to us. This being the case, the label should express the wine’s personality (e.g. Inkspot, The Dark Side, Daisy Darling, The Very Sexy Shiraz and others). Consequently, we’ve ended up with a situation where – visually – our wines' labels are linked only by the presence of the Cloof logo. Each wine has its own story.
In presenting our wines to trade customers we’ve been using an analogy from the movie industry. Many movies go straight to DVD because they’re not deemed interesting enough for the circuit. This is a cynical strategy aimed only at leveraging distribution strengths, rather than a case of the film exploring interesting territory. This is the world of brand extensions – one of which Cloof very definitely does not want to be a member!
So, rather than a tiered hierarchy of wines we have what has become a family of brands under the Cloof umbrella (in the same way as Wii and Gameboy are distinct Nintendo products). Speaking of families, it was pointed out to us that it was the Darling family that Peter Pan took to Neverland. We like the “happy thoughts” part of this association!
The Duckitt family is synonymous with Darling. As synonymous, we believe, as the particular style of Merlot produced here. It’s simultaneously concentrated and fresh – the rich fruit is laid over tangy acidity in a kind of ‘sweet and sour’ effect we haven’t encountered anywhere else. The man responsible for all farming operations on Cloof (and Burghers Post) is Peter Duckitt, a man who takes as much pride in growing great grapes as any professional in any endeavour. Peter is a rock (there probably were a few front row forwards in his provincial rugby-playing days who thought so, too!), and without his involvement it’s unlikely we’d be in a position to host an event as large as Rocking the Daisies.
What else, then, to name our new Merlot/Cabernet blend than Duckitt? It’s a wine that’s been aged in French oak barrels (43% of them new) for 18 months. Whereas our Shiraz is all gush (very sexy gush, it must be said), the Duckitt blend is like a finely-tuned racehorse, bursting with nervous energy, and ready to break loose when given its head.
Duckitt is a 2006 wine, bottled earlier this year under screwcap. For this reason it’s going to be a bit “reined-in” for longer than if it had been bottled under cork. We’d recommend decanting it half an hour before drinking.