Village Pinot Noir

Please note: Award stickers are applied at the producer's discretion and may not be present on all bottles.

For the Village Pinot noir, we select the vineyards which has not yet reach full maturity, young vineyards tend to show more varietal character which is what we want to express in this wine. Clones 115, 113, 777 and PN5 are used. Extensive individual berry sorting was done by hand prior to destemming without crushing. The whole berries were transferred without pumping to the fermentation tanks, which was followed by cold maceration at 12°- 14° Celsius for 5-6 days. After cold maceration, the fermentation started spontaneously with some bathes inoculated with selected strains of Burgundian yeast to ensure complete fermentation. The skin cap was punched through by hand at least 3 times per day during fermentation. After the completion of the fermentation and pressing the wine was transferred to older French oak barrels and 5000 litre wooden vats for malolactic fermentation and maturation.

The growing season of the vines, prior and during to the 2022 harvest, consisted of moderate day temperatures and cool night temperatures which was ideal for the development of quality grapes. Harvesting of our Pinot noir started on the 24th of February and finishing the 22nd of March. Picking of the grapes took place in the early hours of the morning and stored in cold storage overnight before processing to ensure optimal quality. Currently there are 21.96 hectares planted to Pinot noir on the estate, clones include 667, 777, 113, 115 and PN5. The oldest vines were planted in 1990 and the youngest blocks in 2021; the vines range in age from 2 to 32 years. The soil is predominantly decomposed Bokkeveld Shale with underlying clay layers of varying depths. Vine orientation is North/South on Northeast and South facing slopes and Northwest/Southeast on the South facing slopes. Height above sea level ranges from 280 to 400 meters.

The wine is matured in French oak for 9 months to add complexity and silkiness.