VINEYARDS & HARVEST
This is a single-vineyard Viognier from the property where we are located on the Helderberg Mountain in Stellenbosch, overlooking the Ocean in a South / South-Westerly direction. The vineyard was planted in 1999 and is without a doubt one of the finest blocks on this property. The sub-soils are of decomposed granite, with a stony surface and an ideal orientation. Yields are typically 35 hl / ha. The 2009 vintage was a textbook ideal season, with a cold winter, excellent rainfalls, even flowering in the Spring and a Summer characterized by hot days and cool nights, resulting in an extended ripening season. This gave rise to a lovely balance in the natural composition of the grapes, allowing for better complexity and subtlety in the flavours and structure of the wine.
VINIFICATION
The grapes were all hand-picked from dawn into small lug-bins, passed over our sorting table and then destemmed. Cold-soaked for a few days on the skins, the grapes were then pressed and the free-run juice was run-off, into barrel. Using a Rhone-derived yeast, we ensured that the wine fermented dry, in order to avoid the stuck-ferment or rich, flabby Viognier styles one often encounters in SA. The (gentle) pressings were kept separate, of which a proportion was included in the final blend, helping to ensure that the minerality of the site retained a keen presence in the ultimate wine. Malolactic fermentation was inhibited and the wine was lees-stirred monthly during its 11-month barrel maturation, before final blending.
BARRELS
All 17 barrels-worth of this wine were barrel-fermented and matured. Of that, 100% Burgundian-coopered French oak : Allier & Vosges 228 L barrels. The majority 2nd fill , then new, 3rd & 4th fill. A tiny proportion of new oak.
WINEMAKER'S COMMENTS
Distinctly Viognier on the nose, with striking apricot, white petals and peaches, the palate is at the same time weighty in flavour while very mineral and fresh in length. Some flinty, leesy characteristics mingle seamlessly with the overt dried-fruit aromas and lush texture, producing a wine with surprising length, fruit weight, freshness and complex aromatic diversity. Drier, more mineral and nuanced than usual from the Cape, less alcoholic and with definite hints of old-world-style Viognier. A wine for Condrieu fans rather than for flabby-wine-loving-trophy-hounds!