Rocking Horse Cape White Blend

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The winemaking remains simple. Our primary challenge during the harvest is to ensure that we pick all of our far-flung blocks at the right time and get them back to the winery in perfect condition. Once this is achieved, we revert to working with very little in the way of ‘winemaking technique’. We are not looking for a big alcohol expression (nor a low alcohol one, for that matter) and prefer subtle wines that show ripeness, while being restrained and elegant. The grapes are whole-bunch pressed and no treatments or additions are used on the juice. This hands-off regime at this early stage really helps to develop the character of the wine. The juice is then racked off the heavy solids and taken to old oak barrels of various volumes. The wines are fermented naturally, and they are allowed to then go through their subsequent malolactic fermentation. We watch them carefully for the next few months until they ‘settle down’, at which point we add some sulphur dioxide. Primary fruit is not what we are looking for here. Rather, we’re trying to show the underlying character of the grapes and the vineyard where they came from.

This wine is crafted from a selection of carefully chosen vineyard sites across the Western Cape. The vineyards include old vines of Roussanne from Stellenbosch and Paardeberg, Chenin Blanc from Paardeberg and Malmesbury, Chardonnay from the Ceres Plateau, and Semillon Blanc from Swartland, with Clairette Blanche sourced from Worcester. The vineyards benefit from diverse soil types including decomposed granite, clay, sandstone over clay, and alluvial soils, which contribute to the wine’s complexity and character​.