Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2020 6x75cl

• 75cl bottle

Lively and herbaceous with crisp layers of fruit. Intense palate with tropical and green elements. A serious wine with a long future. Will reward careful cellaring for the next 5 years.

Vineyards

The grapes were selected from vineyards in Stellenbosch (False Bay), Durbanville and Darling. The 2017 vintage surprised us all after a very dry winter and growing season. The days were moderate with cool evenings, perfect for Sauvignon Blanc. The canopies were opened up early December to ensure enough sunlight in the bunch zone.

Vintage

After four consecutive dry winter seasons (2015-2018) the excellent rainfall in 2019 did manage to offer some relief. The effect of additional water could be seen immediately in the vineyards and we had a particularly good growing season. The crop returned to an almost normal level, and the good growing conditions and vine health set the scene and created expectations for an outstanding harvest. The better rainfall over the winter period compared to the preceding seasons had a very positive influence on the harvest but on the downside we had rather moderate winter temperatures which did lead to some uneven bud-break in the early season, and a much earlier start to the growing season than normal. The moderate winter was fortunately followed by a relative cool spring which allowed the growing pattern to even out a bit even though the growing season remained earlier than normal. Due to the good growing conditions the vines grew a bit more vigorously which meant our viticulture team really had to pay careful attention to the canopy management practices making sure the fruit stays healthy and ensure good even ripening. The harvest itself started early which was expected but it was also a quite compressed harvest that saw several red varieties, ripening much earlier than normal. The first part of the harvest was relatively cool and ideal for harvesting the white cultivars at optimal ripeness yet retaining fresh acidity, but the latter half of the growing season was reasonably warm with only a few heat spikes and no major heat waves. This coupled with a few light rainfall events allowed for good even ripening albeit a little earlier than anticipated. We are very happy with the natural balance and healthy acidities we saw in the grapes this year.

Winemaking

The grapes were handpicked early in the morning and in some cases even during the night. We handle Sauvignon Blanc very reductively from the start with dry ice in the vineyard through to the fermentation vessel. The grapes were crushed as soon as it arrived (before 10am) with a CO2 blanket and given at least 12 hours skin contact. This was to extract all the beautiful flavours nestled in the skins. The juice was racked from the skins with gravity and settled for 24 hours. The clean juice was racked to the fermentation vessel where we inoculate with selected yeast strains and ferment very slow at 13 degrees Celsius. The wine spent 7 months on primary lees before being bottled with only a very coarse filtration.

Enjoy with:

• Grilled and Roasted White Meats
• Fish/Shellfish
• Salads and Picnics

Perfect with seafood