Sold on the Nederburg Auction 2007

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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.

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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° B.

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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.

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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 2007 – 2013.

Enjoy with rich meat dishes.

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Analysis

Alc.  14.7%              SG.1.8             TA  5.4             pH  3.67             VA  0.65               SO2  26 & 48