The Mentors Limited Edition Malbec 2019

ageing : 

This wine can be enjoyed now, but cellaring for a further eight years will be rewarded.

This wine is a tribute to KWV's Mentors Cellar - a place driven in nature by experimentation and innovation; where small batches of premium fruit meet modern winemaking equipment; and, where sheer passion produces wines of outstanding quality.

The grapes were sourced from a vineyard in Paarl, the vineyard has shown over time, to produce top quality wine. After three years of trial and error, this is the first time we've introduced a single variety Malbec to the KWV The Mentors range. This block was planted in 2003 and is only 0.98 Ha. It delivers an average of 6 tons per Ha yearly. The rootstock of this vineyard is Paulsen and the soil type is Malmesbury shale.

The 2019 Malbec is a wine that meets our philosophy of honouring the diversity of terroir, and we hope that future climatic conditions will continue to align and allow similar outstanding quality.

“Wine is a collaboration between humans and nature"

The 2019 season showed great promise with improved winter rains. However, variable weather conditions, with continuous temperature fluctuations, resulted in inconsistent bud break, uneven flowering and set.  Followed by slow and uneven ripening. Reds were most affected and overall yields were down. White varieties, except for the lower yields on Sauvignon Blanc, were as expected. The challenges are not without rewards: whites are bright and flavourful with good aromatics. Reds have soft tannins with rich fruit and generosity.

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, the wine was pumped over every four hours. It was pressed, then settled and transferred to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The wine was then racked and cleaned, and returned to barrel for maturation. After 12 months the best wines were selected to mature for a further six months. In total over the 18-month maturation period, the wine was racked twice. This wine is truly about selecting the best-of-the-best.

Maturation:
The wine spent 18 months in 70% new French oak barrels.