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VINEYARD BLOCKS
1 block 10 year old vines on 4 wire vertical trellis. Clone
MO 192 on 101 - 14 rootstock. On low lying Helderberg mountain
site. Poor gravelly clay soil. Lightly irrigated after veraison
to avoid excessive stress during the critical ripening stage.
Yield 8 tons / hect.
2nd block 10 year old vines on 4 wire vertical trellis. Clone
MO192 on R99 rootstock. 'Mont Fleur' vineyard - high altitude
Helderberg mountain slope. Soil deep red Hutton. No irrigation.
Yield
5 tons / hect.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
A dry, hot summer. The ripening period was hot and dry, but
thankfully not too many excessively hot days. The harvest
was early with ripe, healthy grapes producing big wines with
high alcohols. Harvest date : 12 / 2 / 98 - 20 / 2 / 98 @
23.5 - 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. 33 deg. with the cap of
skins punched down manually 2 - 4 times a day for 10 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. 35% new French oak and 5 % new American
oak was used from the high quality 'Taransaud' and 'Demptos'
cooperages. Time in barrel
17 months, which included several rackings to gradually clarify
the wine and assist maturation.
This wine was lightly fined with fresh egg whites before bottling
unfiltered by hand on the property. Bottling date : 16 / 8
/ 99.
Production : 725 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Dark red colour. Intense dark cherry and plum nose with exotic
cinnamon spiciness. A big chunky merlot with a rich, mouthfilling
palate. Probably best between 2001 & 2006. Ideal with
strong flavoured grilled red meat.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 14.54 SG. 2.0 TA 5.6
pH 3.74 VA 0.67 SO2 40 & 73
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