Free To Be Red

Beef, Lamb, Poultry

The Cabernet Sauvignon for this wine is from a vineyard planted in 1991 on Remhoogte. Low yielding and old on a southerly slope. The fruit ripens late in the season and is hand harvested. The Cinsault is from an old bush vine vineyard in the Darling area on the West Coast, about an hour and a half’s drive north west of Stellenbosch.

The Cabernet Sauvignon spent 1 year in stainless steel, so it is unoaked. The Cinsault spent the year in 4th fill French oak barriques.

Fermentation is done whole bunch and uncrushed for both varietals. A CO2 blanket is maintained by adding dry ice until the commencement of fermentation. Minimal mixing of the tank during fermentation to maintain the integrity of the berries and the fermentation on the the skins lasts approximately 2 weeks before pressing and fermentation being allowed to finish in tank.

“We would like people who drink our wines to experience the estate our soils our slopes our vines and our terroir. Wine should be experienced and not merely drunk and we endeavour to make every bottle of our wine a memorable experience. We believe wine is made in the vineyards and our goal is to allow the vineyards to express themselves by interfering as little as possible. As a result we have adopted a minimalist approach in both the vineyards and the cellar. The idea being to minimalise the human influence on the final product. In the vineyards we do everything by hand from pruning to harvesting. We are also proud members of the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative and of the Integrated Production of Wine Scheme. We have set aside 30% of the estate and dedicated it to the Western Capes indigenous flora and fauna. The goal in the cellar is to facilitate the production of wine from grapes and not merely manufacture wine. This is again done by following the minimalist approach of nothing added apart from a small amount of SO2 prior to bottling. All grapes are hand sorted in the cellar to remove m.o.g. (material other than grapes) and unripe grapes before they go to tank. Wild or naturally occurring yeasts are allowed to ferment the grapes before the wine is drained off the skins and allowed to mature in French oak barrels before being racked and bottled.