Echalas Vineyard, Heritage Field Blend

“Stoksielalleen” – “Only the lonely”

Vineyard – A tiny Echalas or stok-by-paaltjie (staked vine) site rooted in decomposed granitic soils with smatterings of sandstone & ironstone over yellow clay hemmed in by the majestic Jonkershoek mountains & benefitting from a cool micro-climate.  Prof Orffer consulted on the establishment of this field blend of Cinsault, Cabernet Franc & Alicante Bouschet which was the norm in pre-Phylloxera Stellenbosch.  A vintage very analogues to that of ‘19, but which has shown some vine stress in the form of “hard” phenolics due to the continued lower than average rainfall & mild winters – smaller clusters, thicker skins and concentrated flavours with elegance was the norm, a Good Cape Vintage.

Vinification – Second ever vintage for us, harvested the first week of March at dawn, based upon taste & a mere 1.85 tons of this “mix” was destemmed with a portion of whole-berry into a small lagar (open top cement fermenter) with a day of cold soaking.  Inoculated with a Pinot-specific yeast strain, cold fermented over the course of a week with manual pigeage.  The lagar was gently pressed with horizontal basket press into old French oak barrique to complete fermentation & malo.  After 12 months of barrel tempering, the wine was bottled unfined & unfiltered – as they would have done in the old days, a sediment will form.  Only yeast & small amounts of sulphur are added during the process.

Philosophy – A revival in the truest sense of the word – a heritage “field blend” block inspired & planted by a South African viti-viniculture legend as a living reminder of what was almost lost to the annals of history & glimpse back to the old days of Stellenbosch wine farming as never before.