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VINEYARD BLOCKS
Mostly from one block 6 yr old vines on 7 wire vertical trellis
with moveable foliage wires. Clones SH21A; SH1A & SH99
all on 101 - 14 rootstock. 5000 vines / hect. "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 6,5 tons / hect.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
A dry, warm to hot summer. The ripening period was warm and
dry. The harvest was early with ripe, healthy grapes producing
big wines with high alcohols and excellent structure with
good acidity and fine tannins.
Harvest date : 24 / 2 / 01 @ 26.2° 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 2 - 4 times a day for 12 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 15 % new American
oak was used.
Time in barrel 20 months with only a single racking.
This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered by hand.
Bottling date : 8 / 11 / 2002.
Production : 210 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Incredibly dark red colour. Intense blackberry and peppered
fennel nose. Big, rich mouthfilling palate with lots of fruit
and fine, ripe tannins. Long warm finish. Probably best between
2005 & 2010. Ideal with strong flavoured red meat, especially
local venison.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 15.58 SG. 2.0 TA 6.5
pH 3.28 VA 0.53 SO2 24 & 35
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