KWV The Mentors Viognier 2008

Wine Description
This full-bodied wine has peach, apricot, melon and honey aromas. The palate is concentrated with tropical, orange peel, musk, marzipan, citrus and green fig flavours, complemented by a touch of toasty oak. The mouth feel is soft, smooth and creamy with a lingering vanilla and butterscotch aftertaste.

Winemakers Comment
The name of the game when dealing with Viognier is patience and nerves of steel. After frequent tasting and deliberation between the viticulturist and the winemaker, grapes were harvested at the optimum time. Working with Viognier is a challenge from year to year, as this grape variety is unpredictable. Crafting the Viognier grape into a wine of this nature is truly a work of art.

Serve with a variety of creamy pasta, spicy Thai chicken or Asian dishes.

variety : Viognier [ 100% Viognier ]

winery : The Mentors

winemaker : The Winemaking Team

wine of origin : Paarl

analysis : alc : 13.06 % vol rs : 3.71 g/l pH : 3.27 ta : 6.28 g/l

type : White body : Full taste : Herbaceous wooded

pack : Bottle closure : Cork

AWARDS

Veritas Wine Awards 2013 - Bronze

ageing : 3 - 5 years

in the vineyard : Vineyards
Wellington.

Treatment in the Vineyard
This wine was made from specially selected grapes harvested from selected vineyards with soils of shale origin. After 7 years the vines have reached a good balance and the quality of the grapes reflects the quality of these outstanding vineyards. The vineyards are irrigated and the vines maintain a superb canopy (VSP) through the final ripening stages. The row direction is ideal, with the grapes being shaded for the majority of the day.

Vintage Conditions
2008 was an excellent vintage for both red and white wines and wines will continue to develop to their full cellaring potential.

about the harvest: 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.

Yield: 8t/ha

Harvest Date: Late February.

Balling at Harvest: 25.5° Balling

in the cellar : Winemaking
The grapes were destemmed and pressed and only the free run juice was used to make this wine.
After settling the juice was inoculated with specially selected yeast, known for its aromatic
capabilities as well as its slow, steady fermentation rate to enhance fruit flavours. Halfway through
fermentation the wine was moved to barrels, where it completed alcoholic fermentation. The barrels
added dimension and fullness to the wine, without diminishing the abundance of fruit. The wine was left on lees for 60 days. In the first 30 days of lees contact, the wine was battonaged 3 times a week, thereafter only twice a week. The wine was then racked, filtered and bottled.

Maturation
8 months in second and third fill French oak barrels. A combination of 300 and 500 litre barrels was used.

Total Production: 2 000 litres.

Bottling Date: April 2009.

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