Graham Beck Ultra Brut 2016

ageing : This ultra-dry Brut is ideal to drink now or in the next 5 or 8 years.

Previously known as Brut Zero, this ultra-dry Cap Classique was crafted without the use of additional sugar in the dosage - the absence thereof allows the exceptional intrinsic qualities of the wine and its terroir to shine through more clearly. Ultra Brut is pure and honest – a true testimony of extraordinary fundamental excellence.

The Graham Beck Cap Classique craftsmen always maintain that making a sparkling wine with no sugar is like walking a tightrope, there are no room for errors. This unique style of wine can only be crafted in exceptional vintages and from only the highest quality cuvée juice that can sustain extended time on the lees (five to six years).

It joins the ranks of very few zero dosage sparkling wines, a category gaining in popularity amongst chefs, sommeliers, fashionistas, food enthusiasts and the health conscious.

Grapes were picked into lug boxes and then transferred to fruit bins for transport to the cellar, where the whole bunches were tipped into the presses and underwent a gentle and slow pressing cycle to extract the juice as softly as possible.

Only the highest quality cuvée juice selected for this wine. The juice settled for two days before the it was moved for fermentation in stainless steel tanks at a regulated 15 degrees Celsius, with a portion of the base wine fermented in older barrels to ensure a creamy texture on the palate. Secondary fermentation commenced in the bottle during the start of June 2016 and the wine rested in the bottle on the lees for 60 months.