PINOT NOIR

Vintage 2021

WINEMAKING

The grapes were carefully selected from 2 wonderful vineyards at the top of the valley of Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. Hand-picked into small lug boxes to limit pressure on the bunches, then placed into a cold-room to be kept at 5˚C overnight. The following day the bunches were hand-sorted on a conveyor, de-stemmed without pressing, and the whole berries allowed to fall directly into the open-topped fermenters.

Cold maceration ensued for 3 – 4 days at < 10°C until the juice started fermenting naturally from indigenous yeasts. Pigeage (punching down) was done once a day, only by hand, for a gentle extraction. The wine spent 15 days on the skins before pressing, and thereafter racked and left to complete malolactic fermentation and maturation in only French oak barrels for 11 months (10% new, 60% 2nd-fill and 30% 3rd-fill).

TASTING NOTES

The 2021 vintage is a beautifully crafted wine that fully expresses the terroir of the Hemel-en-Aarde valley. Layered with hints of cranberries & cherry blossoms as well as plush tones of blackberries with gentle hints of Turkish Delight on the nose. The tannin has a long finish on the palate that highlights the succulent fruits followed with gentle black fruit down the middle and a lovely balanced acidity, grippy backbone and lingering finish. Our gentle winemaking approach in this wine leads to a natural evolution in structure that is intense, seductive, and delicately layered to be persistently mouth-watering.