Tokara Red 2003

A dense, opaque ruby-plum hue, with a brick red edge. The nose is slightly closed at present yet with promises of riches to come: warm fruit, elegant wood, and lovely refined aromas of a fine red wine! The palate is dry, firm, yet silky, with an underlying grip and tannins, heralding a long life. Notes of brambly fruit and cigar box add interest - the wine is a work-in-progress, developing slowly all the time!


variety : Merlot [ 73% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot ]
winemaker : Miles Mossop
wine of origin : Coastal
analysis : alc : 14.02 % vol  rs : 1.8 g/l  pH : 3.47  ta : 6.0 g/l  
type : Red  taste : Mineral   wooded
pack : Bottle  closure : Cork  

AWARDS
DOUBLE Gold Medal - Veritas 2005
SILVER Medal - Calyon Trophy Show 2006
SILVER Medal - International Wine Challenge 2007
SILVER Medal - Juliet Cullinan Wine Connoisseur's Awards 2006
Scored 90 points - Spectator Magazine
SILVER Medal - The Michelangelo Awards 2007
in the vineyard : This wine is a blend of Merlot (73%), Cabernet Sauvignon (18%) and Petit Verdot (9%). These grapes originated from Tokara's Premium vineyards on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain.

about the harvest: The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness from 7 March until 10 April.

in the cellar : The grapes were destemmed and then passed across a sorting table for the removal of all unwanted material and crushed directly into the tanks for fermentation without the use of pumps. The crushed grapes were then fermented in stainless steel and wooden upright (foudre) fermenters. Pump overs, dellastage and punching down of the cap were implemented three times a day for extraction until fermentation was completed. The tanks were given maceration post fermentation if the quality warranted it depending on the tannin development. The wines were transferred to a barrel for malolactic fermentation after which they were racked, sulphured and put back into the barrel for further maturation. The wines spent a total of twenty months in sixty one percent new French oak and the rest being older French oak barriques. During maturation the wines received five rackings all done barrel to barrel. The wine was bottled in January 2005 after a light egg white fining without filtration.

find our wines in :

OTHER VINTAGES

Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot