Vineyards & Winemaking

WINEMAKING

Our aim is to bottle wines that are a true expression of the Swartland. All steps of our winemaking process are taken with this aim in mind, and we pay the highest possible attention to detail in everything we do.

Our hand-picked grapes are lovingly transported (by Chris!) in a cold truck to the cellar, which is perfectly equipped (sorting tables, peristaltic pumps, small open top wooden and cement fermenters) for the production of superb quality wine.

We do not follow any general winemaking recipe, but treat each variety and parcel of grapes as they need. We try to be as sensitive as possible to the character and needs of each specific parcel, and adapt our winemaking accordingly.

Grapes from the Swartland give a lot in the way of natural extract and character, and to maintain elegance, we make sure not to go crazy on extraction. On average this means one or two gentle pigeages per day through fermentation, and a longish 4 to 6 week total maceration which helps to focus and round off tannins.

Though we do allow nature to take its course, Andrea and Chris are both scientifically trained in winemaking, and well aware of the potential pitfalls of this natural approach.

Wines are pressed directly to barrel for malolactic fermentation and maturation. Though all our wines are aged in French oak barrels, we adjust the amount of new wood so that it does not interfere with the personality of the vineyard. We are also tending to use larger barrels (called demi-muids) of 500L.

The wines are racked as infrequently as possible, and are bottled when ready, unfiltered and generally unfined, with moderate sulphur levels.