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VINEYARD BLOCKS
1 block 14 year old vines on 7 wire vertical trellis with
moveable foliage wires. Clone MO 192 on 101 - 14 rootstock.
On low lying Helderberg mountain site. Poor gravelly clay
soil. Yield 2 tons / hect.
2nd block 8 year old vines on 7 wire vertical trellis with
moveable foliage wires. Mix of “new clones” on
R110 & R99 rootstocks. 'Mont Fleur' vineyard - high altitude
mountain slope. Soil deep red Hutton. Yield 6
tons / hect.
5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon included.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
The growing season was initially very difficult with downy
mildew problems causing some crop loss. 150 mm rain fell mid-January
which delayed harvest a little and allowed the grapes to ripen
comfortably in the warm to hot late summer.
Harvest date : 21 / 2 / 02 – 15 /3 / 02 @ 23.1 –
25.2° 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. 31 deg. with the cap of
skins punched down manually 3- 4 times a day for 10 days.
Wine drained directly to barrels together with single pressing
from traditional basket press.
All our red wines undergo malolactic fermentation in the barrel.
35% new French oak and 5% new American oak was used from high
quality coopers. Time in barrel 18 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 : 13/9/03.
Production : 500 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Dark red colour. Dark cherry and plum nose with an interesting
creamy, nutty character. A big, intensely flavoured merlot
with a rich, mouthfilling palate and a creamy finish. Probably
best between 2004 & 2011. Ideal with strong flavoured
grilled red meat.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 14.9 SG. 1.6 TA 5.4
pH 3.56 VA 0.53 SO2 32 & 73
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