As in the past seasons, our focus remains on a number of various Certified Heritage Vineyards, with plantings dates ranging from 1968 till 1986. The core of the wine is made up from vineyards planted in granitic soils from the Paardeberg and also brown shale (anomaly) from the same mountain. Furthermore, grapes from a vineyard west of Malmesbury planted in clay rich soils with a high iron content, on limestone also form an important component of the wine. The final vineyard was planted in sand with some clay that holds iron minerals.

In total the wine is made from eight vineyards, no less than 25 pickings, different soils, different aspects, different vineyard ages and different maturity levels to create focused, detailed and balanced wines from our warm climate.

The Swartland is known for extremely warm summers with a low average winter rainfall. On the west, the Swartland borders on the Atlantic ocean and on the east inland by mountain ranges. Due to this location, a large diurnal shift is observed where the average daytime temperatures are much higher than the average night time temperatures. All of our vineyards are however inland and our climate is considered to be mediterranean.

The grapes were whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented and then matured for 11 months in old neutral French oak barrels and 20% concrete. The wine is made from Certified Heritage Vineyards (CHV), an initiative of the Old Vine Project (OVP). Bottle maturation took place for 9 months before release.

Total Production:
16 573 x 75cL bottles
515 x 150cL magnums
pH: 3.35
RS: 1.5 g/L
Alcohol: 12.5%
TA: 5.9 g/L
TSO2: 101 mg/L