De Grendel Brut MCC 2013

Fresh citrus, apple and sweet tropical fruit flavours backed by some lemon-cream richness. The fruit weight fills out the mid-palate and the mineral crispness ensures a well-balanced wine with substantial length.

A perfect fit for luxury foods: Oysters (even oysters Rockefeller), foie gras, especially when flavoured with truffle shavings or truffle oil. Fine smoked salmon or other smoked fish or for something slightly more extravagant, enjoy with gently-flavoured types of caviar such as beluga. It will be brilliant with most Chinese and Thai dishes, but fantastic with Japanese sushi, sashimi or other raw-fish dishes.

variety : Chardonnay [ 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir ]

winery : De Grendel Wines

winemaker : Elzette du Preez

wine of origin : Western Cape

analysis : alc : 12.5 % vol rs : 6.2 g/l pH : 3.33 ta : 7.0 g/l

type : Sparkling style : Off Dry

pack : Bottle size : 750ml closure : Cork

ageing : Enjoy now or keep for another two years.

De Grendel Brut 2013 – our seventh vintage - follows on the success of the 2007 maiden vintage which was sold out within 3 months and the 2009 winning a Veritas Gold, 2011 won the trophy for the best MCC at the Winemakers Choice Awards, a gold at the Amorim MCC challenge and ended in the top 6 of the Classic FM MCC Awards. The 2012 vintage was awarded a Platter Wine Guide 4 star rating as well as a Vitis Vinifera Trophy award.

in the vineyard : The build-up to the season, climate wise, has been very promising. We had good rainfall in the winter and spring of 2012, resulting in high water reserves in the vineyards. The prevailing South Easterly Wind (the Cape Doctor) swept through most of the Western Cape during late spring and early summer. Fortunately for us, all the vines were already through fruit set and the wind had positive effect in protecting on a natural way against fungal disease pressure by keeping conditions dry and therefore lowering humidity in the canopy.

December also brought warm days and bright sunshine – due to our proximity to the ocean, temperatures remained moderate. From beginning January right through the picking season of February and March, we did not have any heat waves and in most circumstances had a cooler ripening period than in past vintages. The challenge we did experience was three rainfalls but the positives outstretch the negatives in cooling down and nurturing the vineyards by relieving water stress.

about the harvest: In the industry, the 2009 harvest was one of the best vintages in terms of quality on both red and white varieties.

in the cellar : The grapes were whole bunch pressed (to ensure a very elegant wine); the juice settled and racked to another tank where we inoculated with yeast. Once primary fermentation and malolactic fermentation finished the base wine was filtered and then bottled with the tirage (yeast and sugar mix) for the second fermentation to take place in the bottle – in the true Method Cap Classique manner.

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