Winemaking
Fruit from this portion of the Axe Hill vineyard is generally harvested second in the sequence of the overall block’s ripening during February, around 23ᴼ to 24ᴼ Balling.
Hand harvest & sorting starts early in the morning to ensure grapes arrive at the cellar as cool as possible. Grapes are then crushed into open concrete lagares aka “kuipe” which provide excellent thermo dynamic stability for even temperature fermentation.
Fermentation takes place over 5 or 6 days. Inoculation takes place with commercial yeast, but generally after a period of initial wild yeast fermentation.
Towards the end of alcoholic fermentation (AF), free run wine is transferred to the tank and the skins are pressed, and the juice is added to the free run if deemed appropriate. After a brief period in the tank, the wine is transferred to a barrel for malolactic fermentation (MF), after which the wine is racked off the MLF lees and returned to selected oak barrels for ageing. Bottling takes place between 12 & 18 months after harvest. The bottled wine undergoes further ageing in our cellar before it is ready for the market!
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