Vintage conditions

The winter of 2021 was very cold and wet following a warm autumn. Bud burst was late and the cold, wet weather continued into Spring, requiring careful disease and canopy management. The cool, wet weather extended until the middle of December. These cold conditions meant that the white varietals had very healthy acid levels going into the harvest, while the abundance of water increased yields. From the middle of December onwards the weather warmed up considerably with three heatwaves being experienced in January and one in February. This warm weather helped to ripen the fruit fully and we picked slightly later than average. 2022, like 2021, is an excellent white wine vintage. It has the freshness of the cool growing season combined with the fruit expression of a warm end to the vintage and moderate alcohols thanks to the higher yields. The marathon vintage ended in late April and was the biggest and longest vintage in Rustenberg’s history.

Vinification details

Grapes were hand harvested before being crushed, de-stemmed and pressed into stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Made without the influence of oak, the wine was aged on its lees for two to three months to add further palate weight and complexity to balance out the natural acidity.