Description
This wine is made from Syrah, with a small amount of Viognier and Roussanne co-fermented to add flavor and finely textured tannin. It is a blend of three blocks of vines, the main vineyard being “Block 1”, which is very stony. The hand-harvested grapes are carefully sorted and crushed in small open fermentation vats. The must underwent a cold maceration for a few days before being inoculated with a mixture of national and imported yeasts from the Rhône . About 10% of the wine was fermented in whole bunches with its stalk. Regular and vigorous pigeages were carried out every 4 hours during the first half of the fermentation, then every 8 hours thereafter. The wine is then aged in 300-litre French oak ; mainly second, third and fourth filling with 10% new barrels. After 20 months of aging in barrels, the wine was bottled without fining and without filtration.
Producer Profile
The origin of the winery is serendipitous, but the story of the founding family is more complex. South African patriarch Hans Schroder (b. 1938) was raised in Stellenbosch but spent much of his adult life abroad. In the 1960’s while attending university in Japan, Hans met and married fellow student Midori Maruyama. At the time, their marriage contravened the apartheid regime’s Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act so the young couple settled in Japan. They remained in Tokyo for the next 30 years where they raised three daughters—Marie, Lisa, and Miki. Fast forward to the late 1980’s — the end of apartheid was inching closer and Nelson Mandela’s release was imminent. Hans and Midori decided it was time to return to South Africa and be part of the positive change. They purchased the Oude Nektar farm in 1989 and focused on growing grapes.
Eldest daughter Marie and her American husband Jose also relocated to South Africa to join the family. Jose, a graphic designer by trade, originally intended to open a studio in Cape Town but plans were thwarted when he discovered his passion for wine. With an artisan’s attention to detail and a purist’s approach in the cellar, Jose slowly developed the wines to where they are today. He continues to design all his own wine labels.
