in the vineyard : The Semillon grapes used in the 2013 NLH come from a special block against the ridge on the estate, chosen for its propensity to develop the noble “rot” – Botrytis Cinerea. The Viognier component was sourced from a special parcel of land in Elgin. The Semillon vineyards are planted on gravelly bokkeveld shale and table mountain sandstone soils, and are thirteen years old. The vineyard faces from South to North, facing the Botriver lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, which provides cool sea breezes at night. Normal yield for these vineyards would be 6-8 tons per hectar, but with the Noble Late Harvest it sinks to about 1-2 tons per hectar. The vineyard is 200m above sea level and 13 km’s from the mouth of the Botriver lagoon.
Irregular rainfall during March and April, together with cool nights and warm days resulted in good botrytis infections, and the grapes were left on the vines long after ripening to encourage further development of it. The grapes dehydrate to about 1/5th of their original size