in the vineyard : Primo Pinotage harvested from bush vines from Jan Greef in Agter Paarl. The fruit was in perfect condition with small, healthy intense black berries. The wine is ripe, with soft tannin and loads of intense fruit flavours. Thw vines grow under dry-land conditions in a duplex type soil. Light textured topsoil with a well drained, high water retention capacity subsoil. (Glenrosa / Klapmuts type). The vines are grafted onto rootstock R99. Vines are trellised, and subjected to careful canopy management and crop control. This is vital to achieve the concentration of flavour, texture and standard throughout all our vineyards.
about the harvest: The Primo Pinotage, (grower Jan Greef - Primo Farm, Agter Paarl) was harvested at 27 degrees balling. Hand picked.
in the cellar : Bunches were destalked, but not crushed. After 5 days of cold soak at 8 degrees C, the tanks were warmedj up and fermented with L2056 and L2226 yeasts. Once alcoholic fermentation was completed, the wine was immediately pressed off and transferred to 2nd and 3rd fill French and American oak barrels. The malo-lactic fermentation was completed the wine was racked, sulphured and returned to barrel for a further 8 months (total 14 months in barrel). The wine is bottled unfined and lightly filtered.