in the cellar : The base wine for this brandy is made from Chenin Blanc grapes from Stellenbosch vineyards, picked at a ripeness of around 18 degrees brix. The juice was pressed off and fermented at 18 degrees Celsius with selected yeasts. No sulphur or enzymes are used in the production of the wine. The resultant wine is kept on gross lees at 0 degrees Celsius for five months with regular lees stirring.
Distillation is done in our copper Pruhlo Alambic potstill. The traditional Cognac double distillation process is followed with the separation of the Head, Heart and Tails fractions, retaining only the heart fraction for maturation. The resultant spirit at between 68% and 72% alcohol by volume is transferred to 300 litre French oak barrels for maturation, of which approximately 15% are new.
This XO brandy is blended from casks that have matured for a minimum of 10 years with some having matured for up to 17 years.