Cabernet Sauvignon

Picked by hand. Berry sorting. Cold soaking of up to 14 days. Long slow, natural fermentation of up to 40 days, with one punch down by hand per day. Natural malolactic fermentation in the barrel.

Planted in 2003, in an east-west row orientation. Clone 163– fruit driven and upfront – and Clone 46 – structured and serious. Trellised in a VSP system with planting 1.2m x 2.4m. Canopy height of approximately 1.4m with vines approximately 40cm off the ground. Leaf removal, on Clone 163 on both sides of the bunches and on Clone 46 only on the morning side, is done to increase light intensity and fruit. Sugar loading and berry aromatic sequence are used to determine picking dates. Irrigation is done via leaf water potential, determined by a pressure chamber. ‘Koffieklip’ soil of approximately 1m in depth at the foot of the Helderberg mountain, 8km from False B – idyllic terroir for varietal excellence.

Matured in custom-made barrels from our suppliers – Bruno Lorenzon (Burgundy), Chassin (Burgundy) and Boutes (Bordeaux) for up to 16 months, after which the different blocks and clones were blended and bottled with minimum filtration.