PINOT NOIR

Vintage 2019

WINEMAKING

The grapes were carefully selected from 2 wonderful vineyards at the top of the valley of Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. Hand-picked into small lug boxes to limit pressure on the bunches, then placed into a cold-room to be kept at 5˚C overnight. The following day the bunches were hand-sorted on a conveyor, de-stemmed without pressing, and the whole berries allowed to fall directly into the open-topped fermenters.

Cold maceration ensued for 3 – 4 days at < 10°C until the juice started fermenting naturally from indigenous yeasts. Pigeage (punching down) was done once a day, only by hand, for a gentle extraction. The wine spent 15 days on the skins before pressing, and thereafter racked and left to complete malolactic fermentation and maturation in only French oak barrels for 11 months (15% new, 50% 2nd-fill and 35% 3rd-fill).

TASTING NOTES

A beautifully crafted wine with a keen overlay of cranberries, cherry blossoms and plush tones of blackberries with hints of Turkish Delight deepening on the nose. The tannin finishes long and light whilst the broad texture engulfs the palate showing bright succulent fruits followed by more gentle black fruit down the middle with a balanced acidity, a grippy backbone and lingering finish. The gentle winemaking approach leads on to a wine that has evolved beautifully and is intense, seductive, delicately layered and persistently mouth-watering.