in the vineyard : Origin: Paarl, Coastal Region
Climate: Winter Rainfall approximately 600mm per annum. The estate is situated along the south western slopes of Paarl Mountain at an altitude of between 140 and 250 meters and benefits from cooling summer breezes from the Atlantic Ocean.
Irrigation: Limited irrigation of between 50 and 100mm is applied during drier summers in order to allow for optimum development and ripening of grapes.
Soils: Vary from decomposed granited to well drained sandy loam with gravel underlays.
Coopers: Sylvain, Schahinger, Trust & Nadalie.
Age of Vines: 8 - 12 years
Vines per hectare: 3000
Soil: Sandy loam and decomposed granite
Trellising: Bush vines
Yield: 5 tons per hectare
about the harvest: Specially selected grapes were harvested at 25° Balling, destemmed and transferred to open fermentation tanks. This Shiraz has been made from grapes picked at optimum ripeness and vinified using a combination of modern and traditional techniques.
in the cellar : After the addition of selected yeast the juice, together with the skins, were allowed to ferment at controlled temperatures of 25°C – 28°C. During fermentation, skins that tend to rise to the top were regularly pushed down to cool the cap and to optimise flavour and colour extraction. At 5° Balling, juice was drained from the skins and fermentation allowed to continue in closed tanks. Any juice remaining in the skins were recovered with the use of a gentle tank press.
Barrel maturation: 18 months
Type of Wood: 15% New Hungarian Oak, 70% New American & 15% 4th fill French Oak