Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 6x75cl

• 75cl bottle

Even though the early season was warm the long hang time and cooler weather has helped to maintain the typical Cabernet identity on the bouquet. Just a hint of fynbos intermingling with deliciously dark flavours or currant and cherry on the bouquet. These follow on the palate with notes of cedar and spice to support the mid palate fruit. The supple tannin structure provides enough structure to remain serious but light enough to ensure it doesn't detract from the very long finish of the wine.

Vineyards

The fruit for this wine was sourced from just 2 specific vineyard blocks on our farm. Even though the winter season was not as wet as previous years, no supplementary irrigation was needed. A good balance of fruit concentration and elegance was achieved with very little intervention. A warm start to the season was followed by cooler conditions towards the latter part of harvest aided later-ripening grapes which meant that we had very good flavour development in the Cabernet fruit.

Vintage

2017 was characterized by a dry winter and a dry growing season. Kleine Zalze had however planned for this and managed their vineyards carefully to ensure that they didn't experience any extreme water stress. They experienced a fairly persistent wind during the latter flowering period and the yields were lower than normal. The harvest started very early on the 11th of January and was expected to be a challenging vintage (similar to 2016). In spite of this, very moderate midsummer temperatures and cooler than normal night temperatures provided excellent ripening conditions.

Winemaking

A careful selection was made in the vineyard and after de-stemming the grapes were fermented in a combination of stainless steel tanks and traditional open-top fermenters. We used a combination of punch downs and pump overs at different stages in fermentation and tried to extract as much flavour and tannin, at the beginning of fermentation, as possible. Towards the end of the process we drastically reduced the extraction and usually limit it to only one pump over per day not to over extract the wine and ensure we achieved the best balance. After primary fermentation the grapes were gently pressed and transferred to French oak barrels, 75% new, 25% 2nd and 3rd fill, for 20 months before final blending took place.

Enjoy with:

• Grilled and Roasted Red Meats
• Pizza/Pasta
• Casseroles/Stews
• Mature Strong Cheeses

Perfect with beef stew