KWV The Mentors Petit Verdot 2015

Platinum - SAWi Awards 2017
2015 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles - Silver

ageing : 

This wine is ready to be enjoyed now, but will cellar well for at least eight years.

The winter preceding the 2015 vintage was characterized by maximum hours in the optimal range. Bud break was 10 days early. Spring to November was warm on average, but the entire growing season and most of harvest experienced cool evenings. This was fantastic for both flavour development as well as synthesis of phenols, like tannin and colour, which accompanied bright fruit and perfect acidity in the final result. December had warm days and unusually cool evenings, but it was also very dry with the Cape forgoing the usual December and January rains. The moisture constraint in the root zone activated hormonal responses in the vines that sped up ripening even further while ensuring great concentration. Cool evenings meant the vines recovered from the heat of the day and delicate aromatics were preserved. The surprise harvest saw everyone stretched to the limit. Nonetheless, care was taken with each parcel of fruit and the KWV team met the challenge with aplomb.

Yield: 8tons/ha

Grapes were harvested optimally ripe and hand sorted in the cellar to ensure only the best fruit is used for fermentation. After two days of cold maceration the juice was inoculated with a selected yeast strain. Alcoholic fermentation lasted approximately six days and during this time was pumped over every five hours. Wine was racked off the skins, settled and transferred to barrels where malolactic fermentation took place for three weeks. The wine was then racked and cleaned, and returned to barrels. After 12 months, the best wines were selected to mature for an additional six months. In total during the 18-month maturation period the wine was racked twice. This wine is truly about selecting the best-of-the-best.

Maturation:
The wine was matured for 18 months in French oak barrels of which 70% was first-fill.