Saboteur 2019 White Blend
This is the fifth addition of the very successful Saboteur White Blend. Unfortunately the drought conditions continue in the Bot River Valley so paying attention to our picking time is very important so that we don’t lose the natural acidity and freshness which balances the fruit in this wine.
The Chenin Blanc was naturally fermented in 2 batches. The first portion was on skins for 8 days before pressing and finishing the fermentation in barrel. Due to fruit quality, we did not give skin contact to the second batch and half the juice went to barrel directly from the press and the other half of the second batch was fermented in tank with cooling until dry. This resulted in 3 very different components which added more complexity to the final blend. We had quite a lot of botrytis in the Viognier so no skin contact this year so the juice was fermented in barrel directly from the press. The Blanc Fumé portion was fermented in barrel without settling to give more texture and complete fermentation. All the components spend 9 months in French Oak barrels of which the majority were old barrels. We left all the wine on gross lees with regular batonnage to flesh out the wine. We racked and made up the blend and the only time we added SO2 was to protect the wine for the bottling process.
We blended the 3 components to make sure that the wine is in absolute balance and the result this year is a 74% Chenin Blanc, 15% Blanc Fumé and 11% Viognier. We feel that we still continue to achieve our goal which is to have a serious, well-structured yet refreshingly fruity white wine.
Grapes were sourced from five vineyard sites:
Bot River, Barton Chenin Blanc harvested 1st February 2019
Bot River, Klein Botrivier Sauvignon Blanc harvested 11th February 2019
Elgin, Elgin Ridge Sauvignon Blanc harvested 11th February 2019
Overberg, Klipkraal Chenin Blanc harvested 22nd February 2019
Elgin, Elgin Orchards Viognier harvested 13th March 2019
Average analysis of fruit at harvest
21.2° Balling, TA – 7.0 g/l, pH – 3.32
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Pale straw.
Nose: Spicy, hint of pine nuts, white pear and lime.
Palate: White pear and lime on entry, weighty mid pallet with peach and pear fruit coming to the fore, the finish shows a salty, citrus feel.
Analysis of the wine
Alcohol: 12.34% pH: 3.4 TA: 6.05 g/l RS: 1.6 g/l
9 650 bottles of this vintage were produced (crown cap)
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