Nederburg Heritage Heroes The Brew Master 2015

5 Stars - 2017 John Platter (November 2016).

ageing : 

10 to 15 years

The Brew Master is a Bordeaux-style blend that commemorates brew master and tea specialist Johann Graue, who revolutionised winemaking in South Africa with his clonal experiments to isolate top-performing vines for reproduction, as well as his introduction of cold fermentation techniques. The co-owner of a leading brewery in Germany before coming to South Africa, he acquired Nederburg in 1937 and a foundation of excellence which could be followed by his successors. Graue understood long before anyone else, that one had to start with the best raw materials and that excellent wine originated in the vineyard.

Background
The Heritage Heroes range is a selection of limited-edition, gourmet wines available exclusively through specialty wine shops and restaurants. Each of the wines is individually named and has been made to honour some of the major figures in South African winemaking who have been a source of inspiration to Nederburg.

The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were sourced from top dryland, trellised vineyards in the Groenekloof area close to Darling. These vines grow in Tukulu soil, characterised by its rich clay content and excellent water retention capacity. 

The Merlot grapes came from old, trellised Durbanville vines, and the Malbec and Petit Verdot from trellised vineyards in Paarl. The dryland Malbec vineyard, facing in a north-westerly direction, is grown in decomposed granite, and the Petit Verdot vines in stony, clay soils.

The grapes of the different cultivars were vinified separately. After sorting at the cellar, the fruit was fermented on the skins in open fermenters and stainless steel tanks. Extended skin contact was allowed after alcoholic fermentation. The wine was matured for 18 months in 300-litre  first-, second-, and third- fill French oak barrels.

Cellarmaster: Andrea Freeborough
Winemaker: Samuel Viljoen