International Wine & Spirit Competition 2004 - Silver
Fairbairn Capital Trophy Wine Show 2005 - Bronze
International Wine Challenge 2005 - Seal of Approval
The Private Bin label is reserved for specialist, vineyard-selected, limited-edition wines that are hand-made and while classically styled, exhibit prominent fruit flavours.
Cellarmaster Razvan Macici describes this as a powerful but velvety-textured wine with ripe berry and tobacco leaf scents and flavours of black currant, cassis and oak vanilla, supported by soft tannins. He says it already approachable but has excellent maturation potential. He recommends serving with robust red meat and game dishes.
in the vineyard : The grapes were sourced from two prime wine growers in the Vlottenburg area outside Stellenbosch, whose vines are located in high lying areas, cooled by afternoon sea breezes.
in the cellar : The fruit was picked at 24,5°Balling with each block individually vinified. The grapes were fermented on the skins for an average of 10 days and then given additional skin contact of five days. The free run wine was kept separate from the pressed wine, all fermented in small tanks, manually pumped over. Once spontaneous malolactic fermentation occurred the wine was transferred to wood, where it was racked regularly over the 24 month maturation period. It was aged in a combination of French (80%), Hungarian and American barrels, all new.