Oude Nektar

All of the grapes were hand-picked in mid-March. This was our last vineyard to pick. The grapes were cooled overnight and then de-stemmed and carefully sorted. Fermentation was in small-lot open tanks. The wine was cold-soaked for two days before fermentation with natural yeasts. Because of the pandemic our winemaker was in the cellar all by himself most days. He did punchdowns 4-6 times a day during the vigorous part of the fermentation and then 2 times towards the end. After about 10 days on the skins, the wine was pressed and racked to barrel for malo-lactic fermentation.

This wine is based around the highest elevation vineyard on the farm – at 500 meters arguably one of Stellenbosch’s highest Cabernet vineyards. Originally planted in 2003, it burned down in 2009 and was re-planted. It is an ideal combination of soil and site. It has a very stoney decomposed granite soil with a clay subsoil and it has an almost perfect aspect towards the afternoon sun. This aspect and elevation means that the vineyard receives almost 45 minutes more direct sunlight than Stellenbosch average.

The wine spent 22 months in barrel, all small French oak, about 50% new. Bottled with no fining and no filtration.