Pale lemon colour with a translucent rim, reflecting a clear and bright wine. The nose is a rich and exotic bouquet of ripe yellow stone fruits, gardenia flowers and honeydew with a drop of honeycombe and clove. On the palate the wine surprises with a fresh but mediumbodied mouthfill and medium-plus acidity. A slight hint of gentle oak can be detected on the aftertaste. On first palate entry the wine is light and spritzy, but surprisingly broad with a slight oiliness on the mid-palate.
Technical Tasting Sheets:
Ideal for spicy curries with poppadums, naan bread and sambals or fruity tagines. It matches well with soft and semi-soft cheesed such as chevre, gouda and brie. Spicy butternut squash soup and honeyglazed root vegetables will complement the wine’s aromatics.
The season presented a cold winter with good rainfall that ensured a terrific growing and ripening period during spring and summer. Due to a few small heat spikes and rain showers in January, the vines were exposed to stop-and-start conditions. This complicated determining the accurate stage of ripeness which required viticultural expertise, experience and patience. The 2020 crop size was average.
Viognier berries begin to shrivel towards ripeness, a unique variety characteristic that necessitates careful sampling and tasting before harvest to ensure balance and complexity of flavour is achieved in the wine. Handpicked bunches are destalked and crushed, with the juice settling before inoculation. The majority of the juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks in order to maintain its fresh fruity characteristics, while the remaining 30% is fermented and then aged for 90 days in Romanian oak barrels for a creamier, complementary complexity before blending back into the tank portion. This is followed by protein stabilisation, cold stabilisation and bottling.
2019
- Sakura Japan Women's Wine Awards 2020 Gold
2017
- Platter's 4 Stars
- Vitis Vinifera Awards 2017 Gold
2014
- The Sommeliers Selection 2015 – House Wine, White
2012
- Platter's 4 ½ Stars
- Michelangelo International Wine Awards 2012 Double Gold
- SA Terroir Wine Awards Top Viognier – Durbanville Ward