Seriously Cool Cinsault

Seriously Cool Cinsault is crafted from 30 to 35 year old bush-vine vineyards on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. The vineyards are close to the ocean, which ensure a long growing season and allows for ripe fruit with good concentration and a balanced acidity. Production from these grand dames of South African viticultural heritage is a miserly 4 tons/hectare. Grapes are hand-harvested and brought to the cellar, where the bunches are hand-sorted and fermented whole-bunch in large wooden fermenters. Alcoholic fermentation starts spontaneously inside the berry from the naturally occurring yeast. After around 3 days of this intracellular fermentation the grapes are punched down twice daily with feet to ensure that the berries are broken slowly and softly and not over extracted. The wine is kept on the skins for a minimum of 30 days. ‘Powered’ through gravity alone, the wine runs down to a tank below. The remaining berries, fall into the basket press where they are gently pressed. The soft pressing and the free-run are then placed together in second and third fill 600L French oak barrels to finish malolactic fermentation and the wine is then aged for 8 months. This wine expresses the grapes in their purest form and no fining agents were added. Only sulphur was added and no other additions, such as tartaric acid or enzymes were allowed.

Vibrant red fruits on the nose with a savoury, fynbos finesse. On the palate it has ripe, black cherry fruit offset by cranberry freshness and texture with taut acidity on the finish. I prefer it served slightly chilled whilst flipping the first burgers of the year on the barbie.