PINOT NOIR

Vintage 2020

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 (10% new, 60% 2nd-fill and 30% 3rd-fill).

TASTING NOTES

The 2020 vintage enabled us to encapsulate the full expression of the two different vineyards. Layered, dense fruit of cranberry, raspberry, blackberry, with gentle hints of Turkish delight, all alludes to these specific vineyard parcels. There is a fresh lift of sweet violets on the nose, while the chewy texture engulfs the palate with succulent fruit. The tannin finishes long with gentle black fruit down the middle palate, and carefully balanced acidity gives the wine an elegant backbone and lingering finish. Our gentle winemaking approach enables the wine to evolve naturally into a seductive expression of Pinot Noir at its authentic best, while remaining delicately layered and mouth-watering sip after sip after sip.