Ridgeback Wines Spring News

Wednesday, 17 September, 2014
Ridgeback
And all of a sudden it's spring again! With the first signs of budburst the annual butterflies return to my stomach as the excitement and promise of a fantastic new vintage lies ahead. With good winter rains and early warm temperatures the season is about 2 weeks earlier than last year.

We now find ourselves pruning frantically to wrap up the final vineyard blocks before we head into the very important suckering actons where we remove all but the very best shoots as an early form of quality control in the vineyards.

The 2014 harvest was very definitely the largest on record and the cellar seemed to be bursting at the seams by the end of it. The chaotic harvest activity, which ended 3 weeks later than usual, seemed to run directly into the bottling of our beautiful range of white wines with the Sauvignon Blanc 2014 leading the way. Upfront notes of pineapple, gooseberry and green guava climbing out of the bottle as we treat ourselves to a glass to toast the fantastic early spring weather.

The 2014 red varieties are now all ageing peacefully in barrel and leisurely soaking up the French oak character which suites the wines so well. The shining stars of the 2014 vintage would have to be the Bordeaux varieties which include the Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and our personal favourite, the Cabernet Franc, all currently showing beautiful intensity and depth.

Our very limited release maiden Viognier MCC 2013, which is still a bit of a secret, is developing elegantly as it matures on the bottle fermented lees. This very unique expression of our finest Viognier grapes is showing fresh citrus, with hints of biscotti and almond and a delicate mousse. The suspense is tangible as we head towards the release date of June 2015…...

Regards,
Toit and the team.

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