Durbanville Hills Bastion 2007

Vineyard Consultant: Johan Pienaar
The unique character of this wine lies in the influence of the different vineyards from which the grapes were sourced. The grapes were chosen from various north-east facing, low-yield vineyards, mostly located around 250 m above sea level and grown in deep red soils with good water retention properties. The Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from the centre valley’s medium high slopes whilst the Shiraz block is on a slightly higher location where the wind helps to control the vigorous growth so typical of
this variety.

Bastion
The oldest surviving building in South Africa is the Castle in Cape Town, built over a 13 year period between 1666 and 1679 to  replace the small clay fort of Commander Jan van Riebeeck built in 1652. The pentagonal fortification boasts five bastions from where cross fire could protect the maritime replenishment station and it’s Commander, who turned out to be the Cape’s first winemaker. The bastions inspired the architects that designed Durbanville Hills Winery to supply the cellar with our very own bastion ensuring an outlook point over Table Bay with magnificent Table Mountain on the one side and Robben Island on the other.

After 24 hours of cold soaking, the must was fermented on the skins (between 26ºC and 28ºC) in closed, specially designed auto fermenters (until dry). During this period the maximum fruit, colour and tannin extraction from the skins was made possible through very soft, continuous timer-regulated pump-over cycles. To soften the texture, the wine was left on the skins for one week after the fermentation period.

Controlled malolactic fermentation took place in tank after which the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Shiraz was matured separately for 12 months in 300 liter barrels, using a combination of new, second and thirdfill French and American oak. The final blend chosen from various combinations consists of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Shiraz.