This bottling will be an ongoing project to source, blend and bottle special parcels of Pinotage across the Western Cape and become an expression of each vintage through that grape’s proverbial lens.
This initial vintage uses two fantastically farmed Pinotage blocks: one in Stellenbosch, on Karibib farm, on the granitic Polkadraai Hills that face False Bay makes up 60%. A block in Robertson, on the La Fontaine (Mont Blois) farm, grown on shale derived clay, provides the other 40%. Both blocks are around 30 years old.
WINEMAKING
Grapes are hand picked and cooled overnight. They were then fermented in open-top concrete basins (kuipe). Of the grapes, 40% were foot trodden whole bunches, and the remainder left as whole berries. No sulphur, yeast, acid, enzymes or water was added.
Fermentation took place over 10 days after which a maceration was carried out until the tannins had developed satisfactorily. After draining, the remaining grapes were pressed to old wooden barrels. A spontaneous malolactic fermentation then took place, and in early Autumn wines were sulphured for the first time. Wines were bottled in December after having spent 11 months in barrel with no racking.