Shiraz

Please note: Award stickers are applied at the producer's discretion and may not be present on all bottles.

First the fermenters are loaded with 25% whole bunches by hand before the remaining capacity of the tank is filled with destemed and crushed fruit. The grapes are left to cold soak until the fermentation starts spontaneously. They were fermented in stainless steel and wooden upright (foudre) fermenters. Pump-over’s, dellastage and punching down of the cap were implemented twice a day for extraction until fermentation was completed. The tanks were given maceration post fermentation if the quality warranted it, depending on tannin development. The wines were put to barrel for malolactic fermentation after which they were sulphured up and left in barrel for further maturation.

The vineyards crop at between 8 and 12 t/ha. The grapes were handpicked at optimal ripeness with sugars between 22 and 24.5 degrees brix and acidities ranging from 4.5 to 7.5 g/l.

The wines spend a total of ten months in barrel, 9% of which is new French barriques with the balance being 2nd to 5th fill barriques. After which the batches are blended and then kept in stainless steel for a further 6 months before being filtered and bottled. The wine was bottled in May 2016. The wines spend a total of ten months in barrel, 10% of which is new French barriques with the balance being 2nd to 5th fill barriques. After which the batches are blended and then kept in stainless steel for a further 6 months before being filtered and bottled.