Round Mountain Sauvignon Blanc

Serve with caprese or chicken caesar salad.

The dry, warm mid-summer meant that we had low disease pressure and we went into veraison with the vines in excellent condition. The grapes had even ripening and good yields with excellent aromas and acidity. This is an old vineyard located on one of the highest slopes on our farm. The soils are a moderately textured decomposed granite. It is an excellent site that gives a nice balance of flavour. This vineyard produces concentrated fruit with excellent natural acidity and good ageing potential and we have tried to apply traditional winemaking practices to bring out the best in the wine.

After about 9 months on the lees, the wine was carefully racked, given a light fining and bottled with minimal filtration.

The grapes were pressed and allowed to settle naturally and racked slightly “dirty” to barrel for fermentation. Mainly older, neutral French oak was used (about 5% new). Malo-lactic fermentation was not encouraged, but a few of the barrels inevitably go through naturally. Partial lees stirring helps to balance the higher acidity and gives the wine some added palate weight.

Stark-Condé Wines is located in the picturesque Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch. It is a dramatic valley with steep changes in vineyard elevation from 150 to 600 metres making for a range of sites with distinct characteristics. At Stark-Condé they stick to traditional winemaking methods: open tank fermentation meticulous sorting of grapes hand-punchdowns basket pressing and maturation in small French oak barrels.