Boplaas Gamka Reserve Blend 2012

ageing : Drink now – Next 10 years

The Khoisan tribe named the river, origination in the Great Karoo and caring its way through the mighty Swartberg range, the Gamka or “lion” – quite possibly due to the fact that when in flood, this usually placid river, literally roars through the ravines (klowe in Afrikaans) and savagely bursts its banks sweeping away anything n its path. The Gamka has been the life-blood of our part of the Klein Karoo since our family settled her in the mid-1800’s and its waters are still harnessed today to cultivate crops, provide water for man and beast, as well as ensuring we can tend vines to craft wines.

Notes:
I’ve always been of the opinion that as a winemaker you’re tasked with producing the best wine possible, and to this end, Gamka was borne from pockets of the finest terrior and destined to reward careful cellaring. The combination of Touriga Naçional and Shiraz is based on my affinity towards both these powerful varietals, which offer the ability to craft wines of immense structure, aromatic prowess, complexity, longevity and that elusive combination of power and elegance or the “iron fist in the velvet glove”. The maiden release, amounting to 3400 bottles, is a combination of fruit from Wellington, Stellenbosch and Calitzdorp. All fruit was hand-harvested and sorted prior to destemming; fermentation occurred in small cement lagars (kuipe) with manual pigeage to gently extract optimal flavour and colour; matured in a combination of new and 2^nd fill 300l and 500l barrels and lightly filtered prior to bottling.