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CAPE WINEMAKERS GUILD AUCTION WINE
VINEYARD BLOCKS
Second harvest from 1 block 4 yr old vines on 5 wire vertical
trellis with moveable foliage wires. Clones SH21A; SH1A &
SH99 all on 101 - 14 rootstock. "Mont
Fleur" vineyard - high altitude Helderberg mountain
NW facing slope. Steeply sloping site with rocky, granitic
based Hutton soil. Lightly irrigated after veraison and shortly
before harvest to avoid excessive stress during the critical
ripening stage. Yield 3 tons / hect.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
A dry, hot summer. The ripening period was hot and dry, but
thankfully not too many excessively hot days. The ripening
was surprisingly slow and even with ripe, healthy grapes producing
big wines with high alcohols.
Harvest date : 1 / 3 / 99 @ 25° balling.
PRODUCTION
Handpicking into 20 kg lugboxes.
Destemming and gentle crushing directly into small 2 ton open
top fermentation tanks. Spontaneous natural
yeast fermentation @ max. 32 deg. with the cap of skins
punched down manually 2 - 4 times a day for 13 days. Wine
drained directly to barrels together with single pressing
from traditional basket press.
All our red wine undergo malolactic fermentation in the barrel.
This helps to integrate the new oak component and fix colour
and flavour compounds. 30% new French oak and 15 % new American
oak was used from the high quality 'Francois Freres' and 'Demptos'
cooperages.
Time in barrel 16 months with only a single racking.
This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered by hand.
Bottling date : 20 / 7 / 2000.
Production : 70 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Dark red colour. Intense blackberry aromas with intriguing
pepper and leather spiciness. A big, rich palate with a thick,
velvety texture and long, soft finish. Probably best between
2002 & 2008. Ideal with strong flavoured grilled red meat.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 15.26 SG. 2.4 TA 5.9 pH
3.53 VA 0.67 SO2 42 & 76
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