Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Pinotage 2012

Colour: Deep, intense ruby with wonderful warmth.
Bouquet: The complex mingling of sweet tobacco, plums, cinnamon, vanilla and warm fudge make the nose on this wine incredibly enticing. The natural fruit characters are respected in every sense while the toasty oak spices merely enhance what the fruit has given.
Taste: The palate follows through nicely from what was experienced on the nose. Rich, succulent and velvety, the ripe red fruit characters are perfectly balanced but a firm acidity and integrated tannin structure. The aftertaste wonderfully endures time with the finish being food-savouringly elegant.

Bobotie and Malay curries are an all-time favourite while glutinous slow-roasted game shanks will not disappoint. This wine calls for rich, flavourful dishes but don’t forget about the simple bangers and mash with a rich, chunky gravy.

variety : Pinotage [ 100% Pinotage ]
winemaker : Guy Webber assisted by Nataleé Botha
wine of origin : Stellenbosch
analysis : alc : 14.61 % vol  rs : 3.1 g/l  pH : 3.63  ta : 5.5 g/l  va : 0.73 g/l  so2 : 64 mg/l  fso2 : 28 mg/l  
type : Red  style : Dry  body : Soft  taste : Fruity   wooded
pack : Bottle  size : 750ml  closure : Cork  

AWARDS

2017 SAWi Awards - Grand Gold
2014 International Wine & Spirits Competition - Silver Medal

ageing : The wine is almost uncharacteristically friendly in its youth but is expected to develop extremely well to an age of at least 12 years.

in the vineyard : Background
Flanked by the Helderberg and Stellenbosch Mountains, 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.

Award-winning Stellenzicht reserves its Golden Triangle label for those wines which most eloquently demonstrate the unique terroirs of this special part of the Helderberg, home to some of South Africa’s most exceptional wines.

Vineyards (Viticulturist: Johan Mong)
Planted in 1995, the vineyard lies on a slope with a relatively small incline with the rows oriented from north to south. The medium-potential soils originate from decomposed granite with the vines generally receiving supplementary irrigation at véraison (onset of ripening) and again after harvesting.

The 2012 vintage was one of the coolest and driest in many years with only the normal January heat-wave disrupting what could have been an almost perfect vintage. Maritime winds in February helped to cool down the average temperatures just before picking and the grapes, overall, were very healthy.

about the harvest: The grapes were harvested by hand between 6 and 27 February 2012 at an average of 24.8° Balling.

in the cellar : After destemming and crushing, the mash was transferred to closed, horizontal stainless-steel tanks where fermentation was induced by the addition of a variety of pure yeast strains. Fermentation temperatures were allowed to reach a maximum of 26°C with regular pump-overs. A light pneumatic pressing took place just before the end of fermentation.

A portion of the wine completed fermentation in stainless- steel tanks while the rest was transferred to oak barrels where it underwent both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. After an average of 16 months of barrel maturation, the different batches were blended before being prepared for bottling. Only 30% of the barrels were new. Of the barrels used, 34% were of French oak, 46% of American and 20% of Eastern European oak. A total of 8 066 cases of 12 bottles each were produced. Bottling took place on 30 August 2013.

find our wines in :

OTHER VINTAGES

Pinotage
Pinotage
Pinotage
Pinotage
Pinotage
Pinotage