Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Sauvignon Blanc 2011

Colour: Bright, crisp and sparkling, the wine entices with its ever-so-slight green tinge which should take on a slight golden hue with a further few months in the bottle.
Bouquet: Very subtle and delicate tones of fig and green peppers will develop with time into a more complex array of gooseberries, litchis and even some honey.
Taste: The initial taste is as delicate as the bouquet; then the full mouth-feel opens up a whole new arena of subtly crisp flavours ending in a wonderfully long, clean aftertaste.

Suggested accompaniments include fresh green salads with apple, asparagus with zesty vinaigrette splashes and a personal favourite - Coronation Chicken.

variety : Sauvignon Blanc [ 100% Sauvignon Blanc ]
winemaker : Guy Webber & Nataleé Botha
wine of origin : Stellenbosch
analysis : alc : 14.42 % vol  rs : 2.10 g/l  pH : 3.37  ta : 5.90 g/l  so2 : 158 mg/l  fso2 : 44 mg/l  
type : White  style : Dry  
pack : Bottle  size : 0  closure : Cork  

in the vineyard : Background
Flanked by the Helderberg and Stellenbosch Mountain, between Stellenbosch and the False Bay coast, lies an exceptional tract of land that benefits from terroirs eminently suited to the cultivation of the highest quality wine grapes. This jewel in the crown of the magnificent Stellenbosch wine-growing region is known as the Golden Triangle. At its core lies Stellenzicht.

The award-winning Stellenzicht range reserves its Golden Triangle label for those wines which most eloquently demonstrate the unique terroir of this special part of the Helderberg, home to some of South Africa's most exceptional wines.

Vineyards (viticulturist: Johan Mong)
The vineyards which produced the grapes for this wine were planted between 1985 and 2004 in decomposed granite at altitudes between 110m and 340m. The vines are all grafted onto nematode-resistant Richter 99 and 110 rootstocks and trellised on vertical five-wire systems. The vines received supplementary irrigations at veraison and just before ripeness.  Climatically, not only was the 2011 vintage the driest since 2007, but it was also one of the hottest harvesting periods in many years. To counter the excessive heat at picking, the harvested grapes were stored for 48 hours in a refrigerated container before being crushed.

about the harvest: Winter pruning was done to two spurs but with selected "Cazenave" bearers allowing the vineyards to yield an average of 6.4 tons per hectare.
The grapes were harvested by hand between 16 February and 2 March 2010 and at an average of 22.8° Balling.

in the cellar : After destalking, crushing and over-night draining, the free-run juice was allowed to settle for 48 hours whereafter it was transferred to stainless steel tanks. Fermentation, for which the pure yeast strains Vin 7, Vin 13 and Enoferm Bouquet) were used, took place at about 16° C and lasted 19 days. The tanks were then topped up and cooled down to 9° C and the wine left to rest on the lees for two months. The lees contact increases mouth-feel as the wine reabsorbs the autolysed yeast cells.

Final blending, stabilisation and filtration completed the process and a total of 1 825 cases were bottled on 1 August 2011.

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Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc