in the vineyard : 2012 saw the end of an era with the last vintage from the old mother blocks of Riesling at Klein Constantia. Thus the 2013 crop only came from the newly planted vineyard that properly came into production this year. It is exciting to see a bright, new, fresh vineyard come into production, although it is also sad to lose our original Riesling vineyards, established in the early 80's. In 2013 Klein Constantia has for the first time in eight years produced a Noble Late Harvest from Riesling and it is the first time since 2004 this off-dry style has been made. This is thanks to blending in of just a touch of NLH Riesling into our final blend. The intention of this is to round off as well as improve on the previous style of Riesling.
in the cellar : This style of Riesling is only made in exceptional years when all of the elements work together. We have gone completely natural and more importantly minimalistic: naturally fermented, long extended skin contact before pressing, cold fermentation, no added enzymes and only the bare minimal essential additives were used in the making of this wine. We believe that this is the only way to create elegant Riesling with distinct terroir expression depicting the authentic style of its origin.