Vintage conditions

The previous growing season had its challenges, which seemed to roll over into the 2016/2017 growing season with the continuation of the drought. Winter 2016 was quite dry with even less rain than the previous year, while spring quickly passed straight into warmer summer days. Bud burst was good due to sufficient soil moisture, but with the warmer spring/summer weather the soil started losing moisture quickly, resulting in naturally reduced shoot growth. The vineyard then focused its energy on developing and ripening the small bunches, with smaller berries leading to more concentrated colour and flavour. The dry conditions also meant that both the vineyards and grapes were very healthy. With moderate, but warm days during December and January the start of harvest returned to its normal date. The uninterrupted warmth during harvest also helped the bunches reach optimal ripeness while the berries steadily developed flavours over a slightly longer period of time.

Vinification details

Different hand-picked bunches of the various Cabernet Sauvignon clones, as planted on the estate, arrived at the winery, with great care taken to ensure that clones from various block were kept separate. The bunches were sorted, destemmed and berries sorted again via an optical sorter. The whole berries were then fermented in open top tanks – premium selection grapes from selected parcels within the various clonal blocks were fermented in smaller open fermenters. Intermittent pump-overs and punch downs ensured that right flavours, aromas and tannins were extracted from the berries. All ferments were meticulously monitored during fermentation to ensure the right balance between flavours and tannins were achieved. After primary fermentation some tanks underwent extended maceration if required. Each clonal batch of Cabernet was maturated separately (micro-vinified) in oak barrels before blending.