Uitkyk Estate's achievement at the FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition is significant. With the variety making up some one fifth of vineyard plantings it is both a large contributor to the economy and a hotly contested category whenever championship entries are considered.
Organised by the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group (SBIG), the competition puts contenders through a rigorous judging process and annually selects 20 hopeful finalists which culminated on Friday 14 October with the unveiling of the much-envied Top 10 at Nooitgedacht Estate in Stellenbosch.
The fruit for the Uitkyk Sauvignon Blanc 2015 came from two different vineyards growing in deep, red soils of decomposed granite. Although one of the coolest harvests in years, the season was short and intense. It produced exceptionally healthy grapes that were harvested by hand in the first weeks of February. Aimed at quality over quantity and fruit with sublime concentration, yields ranged between five and seven tons per hectare.
The wine’s vinification included the use of pure yeast cultures in the cellar and its slow development on the lees where it spent three months before bottling. The result is a wine distinctly out of the ordinary. It has a pale straw shimmer; aromas of green pepper and fig leaves on passion fruit and litchi; and, a feather-light yet crisp palate with flavours of ripe melon and juicy tropical fruit.
In addition to using modern vinification techniques, the team at the estate harness natural methods of crop protection in order to reduce the need for chemical interventions as far as possible. A principle of working with nature and not against it has been adopted and includes the launch of a project to increase the owl population on the farm.
Uitkyk’s wine ranges include the famous Carlonet Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinotage, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. It also produces the Flat Roof Manor Range, an MCC called Glass Memoires and a 10YO estate brandy.
The wines, available at retail outlets nationwide, are found on many restaurant wine lists and can also be delivered to your door when purchased online through the Vinotèque at this link: www.vinoteque.co.za/collections/uitkyk
For more information about Uitkyk and its wines, visit www.uitkyk.co.za, call +27.218844416 or make contact onwww.facebook.com/UitkykWines, (or via Twitter @uitkykwinemaker).