De Grendel Rubaiyat 2016

Name: De Grendel Rubaiyat 2016
Brand: De Grendel
SKU: 45850

The farm’s flagship full bodied red is a classic composition of Petit Verdot with Cabernet Sauvignon and dollops of Merlot and Malbec. It possesses impressive purity and inner perfume of graphite, cassis, cedar and liquorice, with a touch of wood smoke that evolves in the glass. Full bodied and dense, the wine has is sculpted by svelte tannins, with a backbone and sufficient stuffing for a graceful long term evolution. Raised in French oak barrels for 18 months.

A match like no other: lamb with rosemary. Also pink and juicy Chateaubriand, roast poultry or boeuf bourguignon.

variety : Petit Verdot [ 62% Petit Verdot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 4% Malbec ]

winery : De Grendel Wines

winemaker : Charles Hopkins & Elzette du Preez

wine of origin : Durbanville

analysis : alc : 14.5 % vol rs : 2.7 g/l pH : 3.56 ta : 5.6 g/l

type : Red style : Dry body : Full wooded

pack : Bottle size : 750ml closure : Cork

AWARDS

2019 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show - Bronze
2019 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirit Awards - Gold

ageing : 10 - 12 years

in the vineyard : The vineyards are situated in the Firgrove area, about 6 km from False Bay. The grapes are selected from specific sites with the focus being on soil types, age of vines and low yields. The average berry weight is less than a gram (extremely small and concentrated). The Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot are from De Grendel.

Soil type: Cape coffee stone, light top soil with deep broken laterite.

Vintage
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: The 2010 vintage will be remembered for the fact that the crop in general in the South African Wine Industry was substantially smaller compared to the five previous vintages. Some areas experienced a drop in yield of as much as 30%. One of the main reasons is the gale force winds experienced in October during the flowering season. Having said all of this, at De Grendel, we experienced a yield of 30% bigger and the only logic behind that is that we missed the worst of the wind during the flowering time.

in the cellar : A portion of this wine was made by aerated pump overs in a closed tank with extended skin contact. The rest was made by punch down method where a pneumatic punch down system was used four times a day. This method ensured more aggressive extraction. These two portions were kept separate during pressing and then blended when going in to 100% new French Oak barrels where malolactic fermentation took place. The wine matured in these barrels for another 18 months.

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