in the vineyard : Over its 18 years, Southern Right Sauvignon blanc has become the best selling wine made in the cool, maritime Walker Bay wine district near the seaside resort town of Hermanus, and one of the very best selling South African Sauvignon Blancs in its price category.
We put an enormous effort into achieving complexity, minerality, length, palate coverage and age-worthiness in our Sauvignon blanc - without relying on high alcohol (and its inevitable - often "hot" - sweetness) or residual sugar for palate weight. Aside from the natural cool, maritime climatic benefits the grapes enjoy, we gain from the following:
Using 5 different clones of Sauvignon blanc - each with their own characteristics - to build complexity.
Growing our grapes in 17 different vineyard parcels to build further complexity. Each is separately vinified as appropriate to the parcel. All parcels are blended together for the final single wine.
Blending Sandstone soil grown Sauvignon blanc with Clay-rich soil grown Sauvignon blanc for a more complete wine. This is something we researched for many years prior to implementation in 2008. Sandstone grown Sauvignon blanc is more edgy, tense and aromatic, Clay-grown Sauvignon Blanc is denser on the mid palate, more "thiols" than "pyrazines" and has greater structural length and age-worthiness.
The appellations of the grapes are as follows: Hemel-en-Aarde Valley 42.4%, Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley 7.9%, other Walker Bay, 49.7%. Soil types are as follows: Light structured Table Mountain Sandstone derived soils 69%, clay-rich Bokkeveld Shale derived soils 31%.
Growing Season
Overall, 2012 was an excellent vintage (for reds in particular) with a rich generosity of texture and wonderful depth of fruit. Drier than usual conditions in the last stages of winter and early spring reduced disease risk during pruning and bud-break. Good early summer rains helped with growth and flowering was problem free. January was warmer and drier than usual, resulting in healthy disease free berry and bunch development.
about the harvest: Picking at ripeness levels from 12% alcohol to 13.5% alcohol aiming for the final wine to come in close to 13% alcohol, thereby avoiding the sense of sweetness higher levels can give.
The harvest in general was cooler than 2011, equal to 2009, and at 24.98° C, very nearly equal to our long term average of 25° C - the average maximum temperatures for December, January, February and March.
in the cellar : We use a range of yeasts. Yeast which emphasizes aromatics, yeast with generates glycerol and mouthfeel at lower alcohol, and yeast which is endemic to our vineyard. Each adds a nuance to the final blend.