(A worthy successor to the 2012 - Platter Red Wine of the Year)

 

Vineyard Blocks 

Mostly from the neighbouring Keermont vineyard. A north east facing block. 15 yr old vines on 7 wire vertical trellis, clone SH9 on 101.14 rootstock. Soil deep red Hutton, medium potential  decomposed granite. Yield 2 tons / ha (15 hl/ha).

A little from our “Tip Top Mont Fleur” vineyard.  Steep, stony, north west facing slope with narrow rows.  Yield 4 tons / ha (29 hl/ha).

We also purchased a little fruit from Stellenzicht vineyard, a little lower down the valley, with similar decomposed granite soil. Yield 7 tons / ha (51 hl/ha).

 

Vintage Blocks

 

2013 vintage was characterized by extreme wind in late spring, which seriously reduced our crop and foliage for all our varieties, in particular this block of Syrah. The rest of the season was good with typical hot, dry weather during the harvest period. A slightly earlier harvest than average with all the hand harvested and sorted grapes coming into the cellar in perfect condition.

 

(Due to these extreme vintage conditions, with our production down 66%, we decided to make another Syrah, De Trafford CSC 2013 from grapes from friends in the Overberg, as well as our Malgas vineyard. This cooler climate wine under the WO Cape South Coast is available from De Trafford at the same price).

 

Production

Handpicking into 20 kg lugboxes. Destemming and gentle crushing directly into small open top fermentation tanks. Spontaneous natural yeast fermentation @ max. 30 deg. with the cap of skins punched down manually 2 - 3 times a day for an average of 16 days. Wine drained directly to barrels together with single pressing from basket press.

All our red wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in the barrel.

Time in barrel 20 months with no new wood and only two rackings.

This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered by hand.

Bottling date: 12 / 11 / 14.

Production: 252 x 12 x 750ml

 

Tasting Notes

Medium deep, purple red colour. Fresh, dark berry fruit and plum pudding nose with black and white pepper, fynbos (herbal) and slight Eucalypt notes. Fresh, slightly austere, lively palate with lovely fine tannins and all the complex flavours found on the nose popping through.

Ideal with a rack of ribs on the braai or  a slow roasted pork belly.

 

Analysis

Alc. 14.42         SG. 1.6g/l         TA 5.5g/l         pH 3.64          VA 0.65         SO2  15free & 61total