Old Vines Soutbos

The soil is 100% sand and with that comes the opportunity to make use of flood-irrigation whereas the whole vineyard gets flooded, allowing the water to filter down through the sand into the deep roots of the vine. Picked in small crates, from the truck and straight into whole-bunch pressing. Natural fermentation started after about 3 days. Thereafter wine was kept on the lees for as long as possible, because that is where the “magic” happens as complex flavours and texture develops. Because nature has already done the work, the winemaking process is kept as natural as possible with minimal interference.

A cool season and moderate weather conditions in most regions during harvest time slowed down ripening, which gave vines the opportunity to develop stunning flavour and colour. Harvest time was delayed by 10 to 14 days this year. The 2022 wine crop is more than 5% less than the 2021 season, but still larger than the five-year average. Early cultivars were harvested at good flavour and sugar concentrations, with lower acidity and higher pH. Later cultivars benefited from dry, moderate temperatures during ripening, which led to full ripening at good sugar and alcohol levels. As there is no mountains or hills in that area, a salty air blows in from the ocean - roughly 35km away – during the evenings. This creates a fogginess that lingers during the night and when the sun rises the next morning, a Kelpy seaspray is left behind and eventually is dried by the hot sun on the vines. This results in the salinity that can be tasted.