This wine articulates the work ethic of Bruno and the commitment of Carlo Suter – the Swiss rooted Breedekloof farming family. Today, 12 vintages down the line, I’m releasing the new Mykoffer 2022 – a straight Breedekloof Cinsaut – with cherries and strawberries, it has a feminine elegance to it with a surprisingly intense personality – So with all the emotions connected to a first love, I present “My TASSENBERG”, “My TAS” – BLANKbottle Mykoffer – a suitcase full of memories.

The Story

As we move along in this adventure called life, we’re (hopefully) increasingly exposed to fine and fascinating wines. We forget quickly and the days of getting excited when opening a bottle of Tassenberg is long gone. So it was then that in February 1994 I walked into Western Cape Liquor Store in Stellenbosch and bought my first bottle of TAS for R3.50. In the (student) years to follow, I partook in a lot of Tassenberg drinking (to put it mildly).

All that drinking gave me ample opportunity for reflection and I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t particularly fond of the whole wine, but there was one flavour component in the wine which I loved. That flavour component reminded me of fresh strawberries – a sweet, green, wholesome sort of freshness.

In 1997 I completed a month-long harvest stint in the (then) capital city of Tassenberg – Eersterivier Wine Cellar, Stellenbosch. We literally made hundreds of thousands of litres of Tassenberg. This is where the light went on for me and I finally identified the grape which produces my mysterious fresh strawberry component. It was Cinsaut! Ever since then I’d had the dream of producing a Cinsaut that tastes exactly the way I would like to remember TAS. The first straight Cinsaut I bottled was in 2007 – a Wellington Cinsaut as part of the Educational Range. The wine was good but not exactly the style I was after.

Not long thereafter, I received a tip-off from a well-respected winemaker friend about a little Cinsaut vineyard located in the lesser-known Breedekloof Valley. At that stage, the grapes went to a big cooperative winery where it basically disappeared into cheap red blends. So I took the plunge and bought some grapes.

This wine articulates the work ethic of Bruno and the commitment of Carlo Suter – the Swiss rooted Breedekloof farming family. Today, 9 vintages down the line, I’m releasing the new Mykoffer 2021 – a straight Breedekloof Cinsaut – with cherries and strawberries, it has a feminine elegance to it with a surprisingly intense personality – So with all the emotions connected to a first love, I present “My TASSENBERG”, “My TAS” – BLANKbottle Mykoffer – a suitcase full of memories.

Technical Information

Cultivar: Cinsaut

Vintage: 2022

Region: Breedekloof

Amount of Bottles Produced: 2448

Vineyard: Raised bush vine vineyard on the valley floor of the Breedekloof.

Winemaking

The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness and cooled overnight to 4 degrees celsius. The next morning the grapes were hand sorted and transferred to tank – 30% whole bunches. The balance of the grapes were de-stemmed on top of the whole clusters. The juice underwent spontaneous fermentation in open top fermenters and received 1 punchdown per day. After 2 – 3 weeks, pressed into older French oak, 8 months on the leese, blended and bottled.

Alcoholic Strenght: 13%/vol.

Acidity: 5.03g/l

PH: 3.62

Reducing Sugar: 1.19g/l

Free SO2: 31ppm

Total SO2: 91ppm

Volatile Acidity: 0.67g/l

Closure: Natural cork

Vegan: Yes