Vineyard Blocks

1 block ( Keerweder ) 31 year old vines on a 3 wire trellis on neighbouring cool, high altitude, SW slope. Deep red Hutton soil with good moisture retention. Unirrigated. Yield 5 tons / hectare.

1 block ( Post House ) 19 year old vines on a 7 wire trellis with moveable foliage wires. Lower slopes of the Helderberg mountain, 8 km from the cooling influence of the sea. Gravelly Escourt soil. Yield 7 tons / hectare. Lightly irrigated just after veraison.

 

Vintage Conditions

The cool wet winter got the growing season off to an excellent start with even budding and the rest of the season was relatively trouble-free.  The cool, dry weather leading up to the harvest meant the grapes developed concentrated, complex flavours that may take a while to develop in the bottle.  Clearly one of the best harvests ever. 

The grapes were picked in the cool mornings @ 22 - 24º Balling.

Harvest dates: 4 / 2 / 03 - 19 / 3 / 03

 

Production

This wine is a selection of two of our best barrels. One 400L new French oak barrel from the Post House vineyard and the other an older 225L French oak from the Keermont vineyard.

Grapes lightly crushed and gently pressed in a traditional basket press. This wine was barrel fermented with natural yeasts and kept for 10 months in barrel with lees stirred about once a month. No malolactic fermentation.

 

Bottled unfiltered on the property by hand with only a light bentonite fining.

Bottling date: 29 / 1 / 04. Production: 130 x 6 x 750ml

 

Tasting Notes

An appealing pale yellow colour.

Toasty oak and a smoky, mineral character with underlying dried peach nose. Big, full palate with white peach flavours and leesy richness. Probably best between 2006 and 2010.

Excellent with sushi, rich fish and seafood dishes, most white meats or on its own.

 

Analysis

ALC. 15.46%    SUGAR  3.8    TA  7.5     pH  3.57     VA  0.58     SO2  19 & 82