Remhoogte is a small family owned and run estate. It was purchased by Murray and Juliet Boustred in 1994. New vineyards were planted, the existing building were restored and a new cellar built. The first wine produced was five barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1995. Production slowly increased and at present 8 000 cases of wine are produced each year.
In 2007 Chris Boustred joined the estate as winemaker. After graduating from Stellenbosch University with a degree in Oneology and Viticulture he spent two years working the harvests in Margaret River in Australia, Chateau Fontenil in Bordeaux and in the Napa Valley, California.
VINEYARDS AND WINE
There are a total of 33 hectares under vines planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage and Shiraz. There is a small 2ha vineyard of 22 year old Chenin Blanc which has recently been included in the Remhoogte portfolio.
The vineyards are on steep south and south west facing slopes, with heavy clay soils producing low tonnages of approximately 7 tonnes per hectare. Table Mountain can be seen from the top vineyards, and the cooling breezes from False Bay maintain a slower ripening of the grapes and add to the quality expected.
HARVEST AND VINIFICATION
Because of the cooler slopes harvest generally only begins in March each year. The vineyards are hand picked through a few times so that the grapes are at there optimum ripeness when they go into the cellar. After destemming the grapes are sorted on a vibrating table. Whole berry fermentation takes place in 8 000 litre oak and stainless steel open topped tanks using natural yeasts as far as possible. the tanks are pigeaged by hand four times daily (every six hours) to obtain a softer extraction. After fermentation the wines remain on the skins for a maceration period of up to 3 weeks. Malolactic fermentation takes place in 225 litre French oak barrels.
The wines are matured in the barrel cellar for up to 20 months before bottling.