The vines experienced a properly cold winter (June to August 2021), a cool growing season and moderate weather leading up to harvest (January to February 2022), allowing for slow and layered flavour development. December and January saw multiple heatwaves, causing a further delay in ripening as vines shut down – closed stomata to conserve water, reducing photosynthesis and thus sugar accumulation. Rains during this time increased disease pressure. Deciding on the picking date was tricky yet vital. Rigorous sorting in the vineyard and cellar was necessary. All indications point to a classical Stellenbosch vintage. 

Hand-harvested into kissies (lug boxes), overnighted in a cold room, processed the next day. After sorting, two open-top fermenters were filled with grapes for fermentation on skins. 50% of fruit destemmed and crushed, 50% whole bunches. Gentle pump-overs and press-downs twice a day during active fermentation. Spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. Skin-contact for 14 days. 11 months in neutral French oak barrels.

Pata Pata, Stomata Stomata:

“Pata Pata” was written by South African singer Miriam Makeba a.k.a Mama Africa in 1967. Pata Pata means ‘touch touch’ in Xhosa and was a famous dance in Joburg in the 1950s. Stomata are found on the underside of leaves. They allow for gas exchange in plants, and close and open depending on climatic conditions. It signifies the hands-on approach that both farmers and winemakers had to have during a tricky season with a slight nod to the heatwaves during harvest which causes the stomata of the vines to close during stress.

 ANALYSIS: ALC 13% |RS 1.65 g/l |TA 5.15 g/l | pH 3.39