Pinot Noir Brut MCC

This wine is made in the old tradition of second fermentation in the bottle. This MCC was made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes. Carefully selected mid-January early morning at 18.5 Balling and then whole-bunched pressed. After a very gentle pressing only the finest free-run juice was used to make this wine.

These vines (planted in 2000) are drip-irrigated to ensure optimal ripening and trained on the 5-wire Perold trellis system. Vines are planted in soils consisting of weathered granite on clay. The nearby Atlantic Ocean (False Bay) also has a cooling effect on the vineyards during the ripening season. With the Western Cape coming out of a 3 year drought period it looked promising but many vineyards had not yet recovered in full. In general a cooler growing period with unfavourable weather during flower and set in October and November which led to smaller berries and bunches with unevenness for some cultivars at harvest. Weather was good with start of harvest until March when it turned into cool and wet conditions which necessitated greater input to control disease outbreak. Harvest began mid-January and was completed end March with similar yields to previous year.