Full Berry Fermentation Pinotage

Grapes were destemmed (but not crushed) and transferred to stainless steel tank, dropped in using gravity, so all the berries stayed whole to carry out carbonic maceration. Our priority is always on developing elegance & fruitiness and avoiding bitterness and harsh tannins for which Pinotage is notorious. We also wanted to retain the underlying spicy minerality from the local soils. Spontaneous, wild fermentation occurred inside the unbroken skins of the berries, with the effect of minimal skin contact. This coaxes out the gentler, more textural nature of Pinotage.

We work with two vineyards for this Pinotage, one based in Northern Stellenbosch and the other in Voor Paardeberg, approaching 21 years old, respectively. The former on sandy and very heavily decomposed quartz and granite soils, the latter on weathered, granite derived soils. We experienced plentiful rains in the Cape during winter 2022 and a long, slow and moderate ripening period so the crops ripened evenly and with great acidity and freshness.