in the vineyard : The grapes for the Hidden Valley Pinotage 2001 were selected from a 34 year old vineyard located in Devon Valley. The vineyard was purchased by Dave Hidden in 1995 and the name Hidden Valley is derived from the owner's name and location of the farm. The total extent of of this farm is 23 hectares - the Pinotage vineyard being approximately 6 hectares on a fairly steep south-west slope.
in the cellar : The grapes were handpicked into small lug baskets and transported to Grangehurst Winery for destalking and crushing by well-known vintner, Jeremy Walker. The mash was fermented in open red fermenters ("kuipe"), with regular punching through of the skins until dry, at a temperature of ± 30 degrees C. After pressing, the free-run and press wines were blended and pumped into 225lt French (78%) and American (22%) oak barrels and matured for 11 months. It was then racked out of the barrels and bottled in October 2002.
A total of 23,000 bottles were produced.