Breedekloof Mixed Red Collection

Malolactic fermentation took place in new and second fill American and French medium toast oak barrels.

Matured for 15 months before bottling.

Mediterranean climate with annual rainfall of approximately 1000mm. The Estate is located on the upper slopes of the Breede River Valley at 240 – 350m above sea level. Cold winters with snow until late Spring, resulting in slow ripening. Harvest usually starts 2 – 3 weeks later than the rest of the country. Significant variation in diurnal temperature occurs in our region, with good sugar development during the warmer days while the drop in temperature at night preserves the balance of natural acids in the grapes. The soil is defined by a major geological fault, the Worcester Fault, which runs through the valley. Hills are composed of weathered sandstone and the valley floor is sedimented by a diversity of soil parent materials.

Matured in 300 Litre French and American oak barrels for 24 months.

Sorting of grapes, de-stemmed and crushed, cold soaking and slow fermentation at 25 °C to enhance flavours and colour.

10 months Barrel maturation.

More or less the same method of vinification is used with all the cultivars. Grapes are harvested when reaching optimum physiological ripeness at 25° Balling. After crushing and de-stemming, the mash is cold-soaked for 3 days. Fermentation follows with rotor tanks turned every 4-6 hours.

Vines are grown in sandy and rocky soils. Controlled irrigation is applied as moisture levels are measured by neutron hydrometers. Leaf canopies are carefully managed to ensure the berries receive adequate sunlight. Grapes come from trellised vineyards and bush vines.

After initial fermentation for 6-7 days, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and is aged for 16 months in 80% French oak and 20% American oak before bottling.

The wines are all made by Ivy du Toit and the wines are only blended after maturation in barrels. 300lt size barrels used - 80% new barrels and rest 2nd, 3rd and 4th fill.

All 5 cultivars used for this Bordeaux Blend are from Wine of Origin Breedekloof. Some cultivars from the Slanghoek ward and others from the Goudini ward. Every cultivar is farmed by the exact same individual, yet planted in various types of soil at different altitudes.

Within each clone we stagger our pickings times. Small batch fermentations take place in open top fermenters. A portion of whole bunches are included, sometimes up to a 50%. The rest of the berries are not crushed but kept whole. Soft punch downs are performed for a long gentle extraction. Some batches will go through extended maceration on the skins to enhance the tannin structure of the final wine. All the components are basket pressed and aged for 9 months in seasoned French oak barrels. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel. No racking takes place after Malo, the wine matures on its lees.

Our Grenache noir is grown as echalas vines (vine-to-post) on clay-shale rich soil with a high component of quartz rock. Every vintage we would leave halve of each clone tied to the pole and the other halve untied. This creates two different micro-climates within each vine. The cooler micro-climate of the traditional echalas has a higher acidity and somewhat different aromatic complexity. The untied vine will be more sun exposed like a traditional bush vine. By selecting the three different Grenache clones we have enhanced our wines natural complexity even more. Clones 1064; 513; 70

Each batch is carefully selected and blended to compliment the final product and aged for a further 2 months in barrel. Only 500 and 300L barrels are used.