Circumstance Mourvedre 2015

The Stellenbosch area experienced a good winter with sufficient rain to fill the dams and provide enough cold units in July to have the vines in full dormancy. From August the temperatures started to rise slowly and spring arrived early with flowering occurring under ideal conditions. This ensured even ripeness, which contributed to excellent grape quality. During this stage we also experienced windy conditions which led to looser bunches and a naturally lower yield, packed with concentration Rainfall fell off dramatically from September with warm, dry weather and less severe winds than usual. Throughout the growing season, temperatures remained moderate, with intermittent hot days. Veraison (the onset of ripening) started about 2 weeks earlier than usual. During the rest of the growing season we saw little rain, which resulted in very low disease pressure. Even though the days were warm, we noticed that the evenings cooled down favourably. The 2015 harvest was the earliest to date at Waterkloof. We started picking 2 weeks earlier than usual due to the early spring, but hang time was sufficient to allow phenolic ripeness. The quality of the fruit was exceptional – low pH, high acidity and clean fruit with little to no rot.

The red varietals are sorted and placed into wooden fermenters by the use of a gravity flow system. We do natural whole-bunch fermentation for our Rhône varietals and have always believed that tannins should be extracted slowly and gently during the course of fermentation. In order to achieve this we stomp the grapes twice a day with our feet instead of using a machine or doing pumpovers. The wine then spends roughly one month on the skins after which it is run down via gravity and the skins are pressed in a basket press. Malolactic fermentation also takes place naturally in barrel, without the addition of bacteria. Our Mourvèdre was aged in older 600L French barrels for about 16 months. In keeping with our philosophy of minimum intervention, this wine only underwent a basic filtration prior to bottling to ensure that the wine is enjoyed in its purest form.