Tasting Notes
"Fresh, zesty and dry"
A fresh dry wine made from handpicked graoes, largely from un-irrigated bush vines. Undertones of melon, apples and guava balance well on the palate and lingering acidity.
In The Vineyard
The wine was made from Chenin Blanc grapes that were produced on the farm Dekkersvlei in Klein Drakenstein near Paarl (approx 254 metres above sea level). Most of the vines are bush vines with no irrigation but are supplemented with some trellised vines and the yield averages 7.3 tonnes per hectare.
About The Harvest
Harvest Date: 3rd February 2011
Balling: 22.6°
pH: 3.49
Acidity: 6.1g/li
In The Cellar
Yeast (Laffort Zymaflore X16) was inoculated after 48 hours of juice settlement then fermented for 24 days at an average temperature of 14 degrees C until dry. An addition of tartaric acid was made just prior to yeast inoculation to correct pH.
The wine was unwooded, made in a reductive style, remaining in tank and “lees stirred” to develop some “creaminess” to its character. Protein stabilisation of the wine was unnecessary, but cold stabilisation (for tartrates) undertaken prior to bottling.
The wine was fined in tank using gelatine and careful "racking". No filtering of the wine was undertaken except at bottling when a 5-micron and sterile candle filtration was used.
Production was 555 cases (equivalent to 12 x 750ml bottles) under screwcap closure and the wine released to the South African market in July 2011, and in Europe during August 2011.
