The Drift Year of the Rooster Rosé 2012

ageing : Strawberry and gazpacho soup. Crayfish, cooked with a ground cumin, fennel and coriander seed rub, served with a watermelon and sliced fresh fennel salad, coriander leaves and a lemon aioli. And if you would like to pair this wine with a dessert, try hazelnut and dukkah flavoured meringue shards with a goats cheese cream and strawberries cooked in a rosé syrup.

From the Label

This Rosé is about celebrating the outdoor, sun-filled lifestyle. Like all the wines we make, our priority is to make seriously good quality, world class wine. However, we want to do this in harmony with nature and with respect to our land and those who work with us

This wine is perfectly suited to long, lazy picnics, watching the sun set or coaxing the settling coals before a braai. It will pair very well with crayfish salad, smoked salmon and even spicy food, but can also be easily enjoyed on it's own.

We chose a north facing, gently sloping site quite high up against the mountain. At around 350m above sea level this vineyard is cool in summer, but because of the north facing aspect gets enough sun. The soil is unusually homogenous on this spot of the farm, but it is quite sandy with decomposed Table Mountain sandstone, decomposed granitic substrate over shale and clay. I assumed it would be the sort of soil that would be tricky, but could provide great aromatic intensity and some persistent flavours, as well as natural high acids. And so it is happily proving. We never really worry about the sugar level. It is more important to get the right crisp, red fruits and balanced acidity.

All the hard work actually gets done in the vineyard and starts six months before harvesting with very careful hand pruning in the winter, which on The Drift farm can be very cold indeed.