Vintage - 2017

Country - South Africa

Region - Elgin

Grape Varieties - Pinot Noir 100%

Alcohol by volume - 13.5%

Bottle - 75cl

Layered and textured truffle savouriness and earthy forest floor characters are interwoven with concentrated black cherry compote and harmoniously supported by mineral tannins. Although the wine is approachable in its primary stage with fresh cherry and red berry components evident at youth, the wine will age for at least 10 years where primary components will evolve to tertiary forest floor, truffle, earthy and savoury notes that are typical in great Burgundy examples.

Bunches were de-stemmed without crushing and berries hand sorted at the crusher. The whole berry fraction amounted to about 80% and was soaked overnight in 500kg batches before yeast activity began where colour and some tannin extraction occurred. Fermentation was in open top bins and was either spontaneous or some batches were inoculated with a culture, depending on site – soil and style elements. Juice and skin were punched down and turned daily to control even heat distribution between the skin cap on top and must juice below. Tannin and flavour extractions from the skins were carefully monitored at this stage; the process controlled by hand with no pump or mechanical intervention which is slow and labour intensive but enables maximum control and focus on each 500kg batch.

Once fermentation was completed, the bins were tasted and selected on tannin and flavour attributes and manually pressed in an 800kg capacity stainless steel basket press. The bin combinations selected were kept as separate fractions to create as many blending profiles as possible for the final assemblage. The secondary malo-lactic fermentation was completed in 225L oak casks where, once all the malic acid had converted to lactic acid, it was racked off the solid lees and further matured for 9 to 12 months in a combination of new, second-, third- and fourth-filled Burgundy coopered casks.

The approach to chemical additions and mechanical intervention is kept to the absolute minimum so that the natural integrity of the variety is respected and expressed. Once maturation was completed, each barrel was assessed and the resultant blend of the chosen barrels were assembled in a stainless steel tank and then lightly filtered to bottle.