Winemaking
Tinta Roriz in Portugal, Tempranillo in Spain and sometimes also referred to as Aragonez!
From a vineyard planted in 2011, earlier ripening and prone to deliver generous fruit, so careful management of crop load is required.
Generally harvested earlier in February out of the Portuguese varieties available on the Wesoewer in Calitzdorp. Picked around 24ᴼ Balling in early 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 thermodynamic 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 of settling 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. (Minimal new oak with a major portion of the wine aged in well-seasoned barrels.)
Bottling takes place between 12 & 18 months after harvest, after which the bottled wine undergoes further ageing in our cellar before it is ready for the market.
