in the vineyard : Sourced from north and north-westerly vineyards at Vergelegen, Somerset West, where soil types of granite, Hutton and weathered shale dominate. The 2007/ 2008 growing season was long and mild, leading to perfect physiological and even ripeness, allowing for harvesting at potentially lower alcohol levels.
in the cellar : Hand-sorting on vibrating conveyors followed destemming. The sorted grapes were left to cold soak in fermentation tanks at 8ºC for 10 days. A natural fermentation developed as the temperature slowly increased to 18ºC. After 2-3 days of natural fermentation, a pure cultured yeast was added and the temperature increased to 25-30ºC, critical for optimum colour and tannin extraction. After completion of the alcoholic fermentation the young wine was left for a further 7 weeks on the skins. This maceration process leads to softer tannins, increased complexity and colour stability. The wine was matured in 20% new French barriques for 16 months before bottling on 11 -27 August 2009.