Soldaat

The 2020 Soldaat had two pivotal shifts in the process of coming to being. Firstly, we realized that the more heavily shaded bunches contributed to a volume of herbal, greener characteristics in the wine in some of the older vintages; and by mid-December we trimmed away the leaves around the bunches only to enable more sunlight to come through - not excessively, but certainly more than in the past. Secondly, we slightly reduced the percentage of whole clusters by destemming around 35% of the bunches – this decreases the volume of potassium pick up and pH meltdown. The wine is still very much primal red bright fruit and intense berried flavours, but we have gained greater purity and earthy characters; and a better tannin structure in the end of the wine. The wine has both aromatic brightness and weight in texture.