Estate Pinotage Rose

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The grapes were lightly crushed and left on the skins to extract that beautiful salmon pink colour (total of 2 hours on the skins), following this the grapes were pressed. Press fractions were then separated into two fractions namely free run (maximum of 0.4bar) and pressed juice fraction (0.4bar- 1.2bar).

It was expected at an early stage that the 2019 grape crop will return to normal levels thanks to good rainfall hot on the heels of a three year-long drought. The size and quality of the 2019 grape crop was further influenced by weather conditions in the flowering period leading up to harvest, together with the vineyards’ ability to recover from the drought. We experienced good cold conditions during the winter and rainfall was higher than previous year. Spring has set in earlier, and the vines initially started to bud earlier than normal. In September, temperature fluctuations delayed vine growth, however, and in certain cultivars resulted in late and uneven bud burst. Rain in September led to increase management inputs with regard to canopy and fungal disease management. By the end of September, temperatures rose again with subsequent good vine growth.

Juice was settled and then was inoculated with selected yeast strains (Laffort X16) and then fermented in both stain-less steel (60%) and 3rd fill French oak (40%). Post-fermentation, the tanks and barrels were batton aged twice per week for the first two months (total 6 months lees contact).