From Simonsberg Mountain to Stellenbosch: Premium Grapes for a Premium Blend
This wine is a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. The grapes originated from Tokara’s premium vineyards on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, just outside of Stellenbosch. Only grapes from the best blocks and from the best parts of these blocks are used. The vineyard yield is between 7 and 9t/ha. The grapes were hand-picked at optimal ripeness between the 7th February and the 24th March 2020.The grapes were de-stemmed, passed across a sorting table for the removal of all unwanted material and then gravity fed directly into fermentation vessels, thus avoiding the use of pumps. Cold maceration was encouraged for up to 5 days before the fermentation started spontaneously with indigenous yeasts. The grapes were fermented in stainless steel and wooden upright (foudre) fermenters. Pump-overs, dellastage and punch-down of the cap were implemented twice a day for extraction until the fermentation had finished.
The wines were allowed to macerate post fermentation before being put to barrel for malolactic fermentation after which they were racked, sulphured and put back to barrel for a further maturation. The wines spent a total of twenty-two months in 49% new French oak - the rest being older French oak barriques. During maturation the wines received four rackings, all done barrel to barrel. The wine was bottled in January 2022 with no fining and a light filtration.
