This Maiden Release of the Elgin Vintners Sauvignon Blanc Semillon bursts with intense aromas of guava, jasmine, pickled pear and spicy white peach. The palate completely delivers on expectation and combines both a femininity and core of minerality. It is an intriguing wine, a powerhouse of fresh summer stone fruits, full on the palate with a silky finish. Whilst this wine drinks extremely well now, it is expected to develop even greater complexity with further maturation.
variety : Sauvignon Blanc [ 65% Sauvignon Blanc, 35% Semillon ]
winemaker : Joris van Almenkerk
wine of origin : Elgin
analysis : alc : 14.76 % vol rs : 1.5 g/l pH : 3.58 ta : 6.1 g/l
type : White style : Dry body : Full taste : Fruity wooded
pack : Bottle closure : Cork
in the vineyard : The grapes for our Maiden Release of the Elgin Vintners Sauvignon Semillon blend have been sourced exclusively from Eikenhof Farm, the BWI Champion farm within the Elgin Vintners partnership. It has been named "The Century" in honour of Mr Douglas Moodie, of Eikenhof, who turned 100 years in September 2011. He has witnessed the evolution of the Elgin Valley since 1930 and it is his far reaching vision which we wish to salute with this wine.
The three year old Semillon vineyard (clone GD1) is planted on a south westerly slope and yielded three tons per hectare. Due to the medium-high potential soil, the vines are planted 2,5 m x 1,5 m apart and are VSP trained on a fence trellis system. A light leaf plucking in the bunch zone to improve canopy aeration resulted in the grapes being botrytis free, a fungal disease to which Semillon is very susceptible. The ripe grapes showed excellent chemical analysis at harvest.
The Sauvignon Blanc (clone SB316) vineyard grafted onto rootstock 101-14 MGT is on a high altitude (500m) southerly slope and yielded nine tons per hectare. The VSP trained trellis system allows adequate shoot length to ripen the crop load without showing any signs of moisture stress. A leaf plucking in the bunch zone soon after berry set enhanced the aromatic fruit flavours of the grapes. The grapes were gently hand harvested into lug boxes at optimum ripeness resulting in a full-bodied wine packed with power, length and fruit.
in the cellar : The wine was vinified by Joris van Almenkerk at Almenkerk Wine Estate in Elgin. The grapes arrived cool and were destemmed and crushed straight into the press, protecting them from oxidation by the use of dry ice and a specialised inert press. After racking, the juice was inoculated with a selected yeast (VIN13) and fermented at low temperature for over two weeks. Thereafter it was allowed lees contact for nine weeks. After a light bentonite fining, the wine was racked under a carbon dioxide blanket to the final pre-bottling tank. Bottling took place on 30 September 2011. With minimal interference, minimal sulphurs (<90ppm), this wine is a perfect example of reductive winemaking.
Packaging: Bottle number 725, cork closure
Barcodes
Bottle: 6009 8144 3024-3
Per case - 6 x 750ml: 6009 8144 3025-0
Quantity: 630 cases (6 x 750ml) produced in total
A portion will be packed into flat wooden cases and numbered 1 - 100.