Perched on top of a Northeastern sloping hill, nestled between other isolated patches of hard to find vines, these vines enjoy prime views over Stellenbosch and its rolling hills toward Cape Town.

Manicured, and especially nurtured and kept isolated so as to keep safe from encroaching leaf roll virus off of neighboring farmlands, these vines produce amazing fruit. On the slopes of Stellenbosch Mountain – a landmark that epitomizes quality – its roots run deep into the decomposed red/brown granitic soils of origin.

Only 66 vines have been found in Stellenbosch – and in this bottle is the wine that flows from them.

Winter 2022 was cold and wet, as per normal, except that normal is not what we call an ever-changing climate system. With a major El Niño climate event coming into play in the northern parts of the world, we knew going into the season we could expect the unexpected.

We started the picking season quite early, and so it seemed to continue throughout. The first to arrive was Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc and Bastardo, a full 2 weeks earlier than usual. As it turned out we had a very classic early vintage with fresh acidities and amazing fruit development. There was a very heavy early patch of rain which continued to become an early rainy season, catching a lot of producers unprepared.

66 Vines don’t yield a lot of fruit, so this vintage was fermented in a plastic bin. No tech was used in sorting, crushing, pumping or conveying of the fruit to the bin. Instead, the grapes were dropped into the bin as whole bunches and I got some of my wine family to do a nice relaxing foot stomp. The addition of a bit of SO2 is always needed.

Natural fermentation was quick, and punch-downs were the order of the day. This lasted for about a week. The wine was pressed quite quickly after fermentation and put into one small barrel.

Over the next 14 months maturation, we racked the wine from barrel to barrel to improve the natural mechanical sedimentation and cleaning process. This wine never saw a filter in its life.

Please be aware that this wine is made in the most unobtrusive way I could imagine to do. There will be some degree of sediment or crystal formation which is totally natural in these styles of wines.

Color: Slightly redder this year, the wine has more ripeness, earlier in the season, which expresses itself in a more redolent red hue – very pretty!

Nose: Very fruit forward and sweet aromas at the start, opening to a full array of flavor from sweets to spices and almost everything in-between

Pallet: Plush and full, with an amazing portrayal of expressions of Bastardo, with raspberry, candy floss, fynbos and tilled earth opening, and closed by the elegant tangy acidy and velvet tannin that leaves you wanting more.

Alc: 14.0%
pH: 3.60
TA: 5.6 g/l
VA: 0.80 g/l
RS: 2.80 g/l