The intense gold yellow colour of the wine reflects the concentration of flavours. The wine is rich in apricot, peach, honeysuckle and pear flavours complemented by soft butterscotch notes. On the palate the wine is soft and smooth with almonds and orange peel flavours. This rich and creamy wine ends with a refreshing balance and lingering aftertaste.
Serve with lemon buttered fish, creamy seafood or duck meat dishes.
in the vineyard : Treatments in vineyard
This wine is made from grapes from a chosen, single vineyard in the Malmesbury hills. The bushvines are situated 300m above sea-level and are planted in deep, red granite soils. The vines are dry-farmed and a perfect soil:vine synergy is achieve, essential in the Mediterranean climate of the area. Due to the hilltop location of this vineyard it is exposed to the prevailing winds during summer. Apart from keeping the diseases away, this air movement has a cooling effect in the vineyard. Through meticulous pruning the budload per vine and therefore the size of the crop were limited. Foliage management and low yields ensured ripe, flavourful grapes with intense concentration.
Vintage conditions
Cool, wet weather during the 2007 winter and excessive rain in the first two months of 2008, led to a later than usual start to the 2008 harvest. This resulted in slow ripening conditions with small berries, concentrated flavours and slow sugar and flavour development. This also led to an ideal distribution between red and white grapes being harvested. 2008 has been an excellent vintage for both red and white wines and wines will continue to develop to their full cellaring potential.
in the cellar : The grapes were de-stemmed and pressed and only the free run juice was used to make this wine. After settling, the wine was inoculated with two specially chosen yeasts, one to develop the aromatic capabilities and the other to develop the mouth feel. Half-way through fermentation the wine was moved to barrels, where it completed alcoholic fermentation. The barrels added additional dimension and fullness to the wine, without diminishing the abundance of fruit. The wine was left on lees for 45 days and battonaged twice a week. The wine was then racked, filtered and bottled. Every step in the production process was done under reductive circumstances to retain fruit flavour.
Maturation: 8 months. A combination of new 500 litre barrels and 2nd and 3rd fill 300 litre barrels
Total production: 2 000 litre
Bottling date: April