Stellenrust Douwe Steyn 2012

ageing : 

Bottle maturation will be rewarding.

The Douwe Steyn is one of very few Cabernet Sauvignon’s still made of grapes harvested from bush vine and honours the founder of Stellenrust, the builder of the Castle of Good Hope and one of the first settlers in South Africa who bought Stellenrust in 1692.

Grapes for this wine are harvested from bush vine which was planted in 1942. The soil type is a combination of red clay and decomposed granite and the vineyards follow an east to west planting pattern. Bush vine is a very tradi-tional way of growing grapes in South Africa where the grapes mature and ripen in the shade of the bush. Very few Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards are still grown as bush vine as it reduces yield but also slows the ripening of the grapes.

Grapes are picked between 25° and 26° Balling.

Grapes are destemmed, crushed and allowed skin contact through cold maceration for 2 days. Thereafter wild yeast fermentation takes place in open concrete tanks. The cap is manually punched down every 2-6 hours over a period of slow fermentation. After fermentation has finished an additional 2 days post-fermentation skin maceration is allowed. Normal skin contact time is just over two weeks. The wine is then preserved and matured for 24-36 months in small new French oak barrels.

Production of the 2009 vintage: 900 bottles