The Craftsman 2007 Wine

This is a blend of 25 Shiraz, 15% Grenache noir, 13% Carignan, 13% Cinsaut and 34% Mourvèdre. With vineyards located in Wellington (Shiraz, Mourvedre and Cinsaut), Piekenierskloofmountains (Grenache noir) and Malmesbury (Carignan).

The vineyards are selected from within a radius of 160km from the cellar, although components of the fruit also come from the Val de Vie Estate. Different vineyards have different characteristics which are all interwoven into a fresh, fruit-driven matrix. Vineyards are located in Wellington (Shiraz, Mourvedre and Cinsaut), Piekenierskloofmountains (Grenache noir) and Malmesbury (Carignan). Most of these vineyards were left to bush vines and non-irrigated.

The focus is to preserve the fruit. All the freshly harvested grapes are transported in 25kg lug boxes and placed in a chiller at the cellar to cool down to 10 degrees Celsius. All the grapes were hand sorted by the team, crushed and fed to the fermentation tank under gravity. No pumps are being used to displace freshly crushed grapes, nor pomace. The fermenting musts were pumped over every 3 hours for approximately 30 minutes, sometimes aerated A burst of red fruit, red berries, strawberries and cherries with nuances of well integrated oak.

The wine is very soft, feminine and well balanced. Wine & Food A very versatile wine indeed.from pepperoni, pizza, spare ribs with barbecue sauce to the ultimate partner: chicken liver with chorizo sausage, red wine risotto and rocket-shaved parmesan.

Analysis: Alcohol 14.29% pH 3.67 RS 2.2 g/L TA 5.5 g/L VA 0.53 g/L