Cabernet Franc

Early morning hand selected harvest to optimize grape quality at 24 ballings. Hand-sorting of grapes before destemming. Whole berries are pumped into open top fermenter (without any green stems) and macerated there for about 4 days on the skins, allowing cooled grapes to extract colour and phenolic compounds prior to primary fermentation. Fermentation through natural (wild) yeast as soon as grapes reach room temperature. Punching down of fermenting must 3 times a day until fermentation is completed. Fermentation on the skins until about almost zero ballings.

North-facing vineyard (1 ha) at Tanagra (McGregor), at almost 140m altitude, registered as Single Vineyard. Soil mixed with slightly rocky parts and clay structure. Planted in 2002, Rootstock: Richter 110; 4200 number of vines trellised in a North-South row direction on a 5 wire system.

Gentle pressing of skins and malolactic fermentation in 225 litre neutral French oak casks for 14 months. Done with minimal interference through vinification, sediment may occur.