Soldaat

Grenache is one of the most planted red varietals globally and had a greater presence in the early 1900’s in South Africa. Recent indications are that that it is making a come-back and many new vineyards have been planted lately. The reality is that young Grenache tends to over-produce and in many respects its big previous downfall can be linked to this fact, but when a vineyard comes of age and/or is planted in a less forgiving site with reduced fruit load, it can compete with the most elegant and refined reds of the Mediterranean climate. We basically fill the concrete tanks whole cluster to about 60% and then destem 40% to get some juice in the tank to have the initiation of fermentation. The fermentation is for about 30 days on the skins and then we press the grapes in an old basket press.

After pressing the wine is transferred back into concrete, therefore the fermentation on the skins, pressing and the subsequent ageing all take place in 33Hl concrete tanks. The wine is left for 8 months on the lees and then racked to another concrete tank for an additional 4 months to settle clean. Three weeks prior to bottling we add 60mg/Litre of sulphur and bottle the wine from the fine lees.