Heritage Red

The grapes were hand harvested in small crates in the early hours of the morning to keep the grapes cool and preserve flavours. Grapes are cooled further overnight in our on-site cold room (3°C) and processed the following day. Bunch sorting as well as berry sorting is practiced making sure only the best grapes are used in our wines. The grapes are gently rolled off the stems, preventing the extraction of harsh unwanted phenolics. The grapes were destemmed to a stainless-steel tank for a maceration period of 1-2 weeks. Once spontaneous fermentation sets in, we inoculated with yeast. A combination of Punch Downs and Pump-overs were done 3 times a day during fermentation. Post Fermentation, the wine was drained off the skins and lightly pressed with our inert Nitrogen Press. The wine was pressed to steel tank and after settling, racked to a combination of 500L French Oak Barrels and flexcubes, where Malo-Lactic Fermentation took place.

Grapes are sourced from the Bottelary Hills, extremely diverse in terms of terroir. A wide variety of different slopes, aspects, elevation above sea level, soils, and the influence of both the False Bay to the south, and the cold Atlantic in the west, make for a very intricate array of micro-climates. The Bottelary area forms part of granitic hills and the reddish- and yellowish- brown soils are highly suited to the production of great red wines. The soils are acidic, have great water retention capabilities and are well drained. Soil types include Oakleaf, Tukulu, Hutton and Clovelly. Vineyards in the Bottelary Hills are planted at varying heights from 150m to up to 400m above sea level. All these factors contribute to crafting unique, distinctive wines with a sense of place.

The wines were racked and returned once after MLF and then once more during the ageing period. Each block is kept separate during the vinification and ageing process and final blending takes place just before bottling.