Description
CELLAR INFORMATION Picked in small crates and left overnight in cold room to bring temperature down to roughly 10 degrees Celsius. The challenge is to interpret the current vintage conditions in order to balance whole bunch, destemming of grapes and adding stalks (tannins). A combination of whole bunch, destemmed grapes and stalks go into a stainless steel tank and left until natural fermentation starts. One to two soft pump overs per day and left for roughly 2 weeks, pressed and wine transferred into older 225L French oak barrels (minimum oxidation during the process) VINEYARD INFORMATION The 2015 harvest had the earliest start in decades. A warm, dry and windy summer kept vineyard growth under control and accelerated ripening by approximately two weeks. The dry weather resulted in the healthiest seasons in years. This led to good grape analyses with low PH, good acidity and sugar levels which form the foundation of high quality wines.
Producer Profile
Ian Naudé’s wines are unlike anything else.
His range of wines are made up of esoteric pockets of old and new vines that tell a story about South African heritage. He did so fearlessly, believing that South African wine, if made honestly, and without compromise can come to rival the finest wines in the world. And slowly the international wine cognoscenti have started believing it too, as demonstrated by their rave reviews year-on-year.
Reviews
Greg Sherwood 95
Ian Naude might be something of an old hand in the local wine industry but he s making some of the most appealing new-wave wines around, as these latest releases again show. From a 35- year-old Darling vineyard. Red cherry and cranberry plus a very attractive herbal character and a hint of earthiness. The palate is extraordinarily light and fresh with very fine tannins. A very pretty rendition of the variety. CE [Greg Sherwood, 01/01/2023]
JancisRobinson.com 87.5
[Jancis Robinson, 01/01/2023]
