Location: Citrusdal Mountain – Piekenierskloof
Grapes: Grenache
Ageing: 12 months concrete only
Soils: Decomposed Table Mountain Sandstone Formations
VINIFICATION | Grenache is one of the most planted red varietals globally and had
a greater presence in the early 1900’s in South Africa. Recent indications are that that it is making a come-back and many new vineyards have been planted lately. The reality is that young Grenache tends to over-produce and in many respects its big previous downfall can be linked to this fact, but when a vineyard comes of age and/or is planted in a less forgiving site with reduced fruit load, it can compete with the most elegant and refined reds of the Mediterranean climate.
We basically fill the concrete tanks whole cluster to about 60% and then destem 40% to get some juice in the tank to have the initiation of fermentation.The fermentation is for about 30 days on the skins and then we press the grapes in an old basket press.
AGEING | After pressing the wine is transferred back into concrete, therefore the fermentation on the skins, pressing and the subsequent ageing all take place in 33Hl concrete tanks. The wine is left for 8 months on the lees and then racked to another concrete tank for an additional 4 months to settle clean.Three weeks prior to bottling we add 60mg/Litre of sulphur and bottle the wine from the fine lees.
NOTES | The fermentation of the Soldaat vineyard is a wonderful experience in the cellar since the red strawberry, cherry and pomegranate kind of fresh fruit aromas and perfumes fill the entire space; and these and similar flavours are to be found in the resultant wine. Grenache is a grape that completely translates the terroir into liquid.The purity of fruit and transparency of the wine, with very earthy notes, develop into greater complexity with time – this is the main characteristic here alongside the fresh fruit aromas.The tannin textures do reward those that have the nerve to wait and allow the wine to mature properly for 5 – 8 years minimum.
With the Soldaat 2021, we opted to open up the leaves around the overtly shaded bunches as the lack of direct sunlight on the bunches historically contributed to a volume of greener vegetal characteristics.This 2021 Soldaat has one of the brightest and most transparent colours to date; the same freshness suggested by the colour carries through to the wine by displaying crushed pomegranate and fresh cherry flavours.The striking aspect is that the tannin is much more grippy than expected, and although the wine aromatically is very forthcoming, it stands to benefit much for a couple of years in bottle.
Yield: 22 hl/ha
Alcohol: 13 %
Residual Sugar: 1,6 g/L
pH: 3,47
Total Acidity: 5,3 g/L
TS Total Sulphur: 81 mg/L