The Mentors Sauvignon Blanc 2015

The wine’s bouquet displays upfront green figs, limes and lemongrass with hints of gooseberries. The juicy and concentrated palate is notable for its intense fruit flavours. A vibrant and linear acidity in the wine ensures a lively finish.

Savour this wine on its own, or with salads, seafood or slightly fragrant dishes.


variety : Sauvignon Blanc [ 100% Sauvignon Blanc ]
winery : The Mentors
winemaker : The Winemaking Team
wine of origin : Stellenbosch
analysis : alc : 13.74 % vol  rs : 2.0 g/l  pH : 3.22  ta : 6.5 g/l  
type : White  style : Dry  
pack : Bottle  size : 750ml  closure : Cork  

AWARDS

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

ageing : 

This wine will be enjoyable now or can be cellared for up to 36 months from vintage.

Sauvignon blanc from Darling on South Africa’s west coast is outstanding and distinctive.  At approximately 500 metres above sea level, with a view across the South Atlantic Ocean, the vineyard for this wine produces very expressive and concentrated fruit. The 2013 vintage in particular is very identifiable by its gooseberry and tropical fruits - a feature of the region.

We first introduced our Darling Sauvignon blanc into the KWV The Mentors range in 2012 to contrast the varietal and regional features with our Stellenbosch and Elim single origin Sauvignon blanc’s.

in the vineyard : 

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 prominence 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.

about the harvest: 

7-8 tons/ha

in the cellar : 

Skin contact of six hours was allowed in order for the wine to achieve the desired acidity. The juice settled for 48 hour, followed by careful racking. The wine was then inoculated with a specially selected yeast strain and fermented at 12 -13 ̊C to preserve the fruit flavours. Completely tank fermented, it spent 60 days on the fermentation lees, which was stirred up once a week to enhance mouth feel.

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