in the vineyard : The Swartland (Black Land) region of the Cape gets its name from the indigenous velt “Rhinoceros Velt†which has a natural dark shade. This region has been farmed since the early 1700, by free burghers, who were settled by the Dutch East India Company to provide supplies for the companies' ships sailing to the spice Islands in the east. Wild animals often preyed on the burghers sheep, and competed for food and water. This provided an excuse to defy the administrators of the Cape, and start wine production in this region. Jakkalsfontein is situated around a spring where to this day, the eerie evening calls of black-backed jackals can be heard. Old unirrigated bush vines produce bunches of Shiraz grapes with small berries. Jakkalsfontein is a firm wine with concentrated berry, spice and meaty flavours and a long finish.
The Jakkalsfontein vineyard in the Swartland region (Malmesbury) was planted in 1997 (Shiraz clone SH9C, rootstock R99). Dry farmed, bushvines grow in deep weathered shale soils. These soils retain moisture well, which is much needed in the latter part of the hot dry summers normally experienced in the Swartland area. Good viticultural practices, crop thinning and bunch selection will ensure a well balanced, low yielding crop (4.57 ton/ha). This, combined with the unique terroir of the Swartland results in this deep flavoured wine, expressing warm climate Shiraz.
in the cellar : Destalked and lightly crushed into stainless steel fermenters. After initial natural fermentation, we inoculated with selected Rhone yeasts to ensure a complete fermentation. After a week of post fermentation maceration, we press and transfer to barrels for malolactic fermentation, where the wine is left to age for 16 months. Periodic racking ensures the clarity and stability of the wine and therefore no filtration is needed prior to bottling.