The 2014 vintage followed on beautifully in the sense that it remained as cool as 2013. Most wine regions in South Africa experienced rot and mildew due to the late rains whereas Bot River remained dry and cool. This produced very elegant, beautifully balanced and perfumed wines. The longer ripening insured that the grapes were balanced with good, natural acidity.
On the success of our experiments with adding stalks to the ferments in 2013, we continued this trend with up to 10% fermentation with stalks. The desired effect is to maintain more freshness to the mid-pallet. Due to the fantastic quality of the grapes, the wine spent a total of 6 weeks on the skins and was allowed to go through malolactic fermentation during this period.
It was then pressed and the two blocks kept separately in barrel of which 20% was new French Oak and the balance older wood down to 8th fill. Of the total barrel selection, 5% was Hungarian Oak and the rest was French Oak. After 2 years in barrel, we made up the final blend between the two batches and bottled.
Grapes were sourced from Luddite vineyard sites: Young Block - picked on the 20th February 2014 Old Block - picked on the 24th February 2014
Average analysis of fruit at harvest 23.5° Balling, TA — 7.0 g/1, pH — 3.4
Tasting Notes as at 4 September 2018 Appearance: Dark purple vibrancy and fantastic dark colour to the edge of the glass. Nose: Perfumed, fynbos, floral, all spice with liquorice, cloves and reddish fruit. Palate: Gentle entry, spicy red fruit, with cloves and liquorice on a long balanced finish. Probably the most balanced wine we have made thus far.
Analysis of the wine Alcohol: 14.8% pH: 3.61 TA: 5.2 g/1 RS: 2.8 g/l
15 800 bottles of this vintage were produced.
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