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VINEYARD BLOCKS
1 block 13 year old vines on 4 wire vertical trellis. Clone
CS 46A on 101-14 rootstock. Soil gravelly red Hutton type.
On low lying Helderberg mountain site. Yield 8 tons / hect.
2nd block 7 year old vines on 6 wire vertical trellis. Mix
of "new clones" on 101-14 rootstock. Mont Fleur
vineyard. - high altitude mountain slope. Soil deep red Hutton.
Yield 5 tons / hect. Both vineyards
lightly irrigated after veraison. 7% merlot and 2% cabernet
franc incl.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
An ideal dry, moderately hot summer with very few excessively
hot days. The harvest commenced in perfect conditions with
ripe, healthy grapes producing big, but well balanced wines.
Harvest date: 16 / 2 / 01 - 20 / 3 / 01 @ 23.4 - 26.3°
balling.
PRODUCTION
100% destemming and crushing by hand directly into 2 ton open
top fermentation tanks. Spontaneous natural
yeast fermentation @ 31ºC with the cap of skins
punched down 2 - 5 times a day for 10 to 14 days. Wine drained
directly to barrels together with single pressing from traditional
basket press. All wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in
the barrel. 35% new French oak and 5%
new American oak was used from high quality coopers.
Time in barrels 22 months, which
included several rackings to gradually clarify the wine and
assist maturation. This wine was bottled unfiltered
by hand on the property.
Bottling date : 8 January 2003
Production : 890 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Deep, dark, brooding red colour.
Concentrated blackberry / cassis and cedar nose. Evolves in
the glass to show complexity and warmth.
Intense fruit flavours and rich, silky textured palate which
follows through to an elegant long, dry finish. Probably best
between 2006 - 2013.
Enjoy with rich meat dishes.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 14.7% SG.1.8 TA 5.4
pH 3.67 VA 0.65 SO2 26 & 48
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