IT’S REALLY ALL ABOUT THE VINEYARDS
Mourvèdre is one of the most underrated red grape wine varietals and it goes by 95 other names, including Mataró, which is used in Portugal.
It is a well-known rosé variety used in regions such as Provence and the Rhône Valley in France. Our Circumstance Cape Coral Mourvèdre is produced from grapes on the slopes of the Schapenberg as well as the rest of the Stellenbosch wine growing region, characterized by relatively mild winters and long, warm summers. The vines are cultivated under dryland conditions and planted in a combination of sandstone and deep red soils which provide adequate water for this late ripening varietal.
A GENTLE HAND
Grapes were hand harvested and hand sorted, followed by a gentle whole bunch pressing in our new horizontal basket press, to extract only the finest juice. No further maceration of the juice with the skins was allowed, nor the addition of extraction enzymes or settling agents, which resulted in a very light salmon colour rosé. The juice was run down via gravity into tank and left to settle naturally for 12 hours.
From there, we racked the clean juice off to wooden fermenters to start the fermentation spontaneously, relying on wild yeasts that occur naturally in the vineyard.
The reason why we ferment in our older wooden fermenters is to ensure a slow ingress of oxygen throughout the process and therefore a longer fermentation without picking up any oak aromas. The wine was then left on the primary lees for an extended period to add further complexity before bottling.
AND A FEW PRAYERS TO MOTHER NATURE – THE 2021/22 GROWING SEASON
A cool season with moderate weather conditions during the 2022 harvest. This gave the vine the opportunity to reach full phenolic ripeness and develop complex flavours.
The current harvest quality is dependent on the previous Winter conditions. The 2021 Winter started early and saw proper leaf fall during the month of May. The rest of the Winter was ideal with very cold and wet conditions.
Due to a cold and wet Spring budding was delayed by 2 weeks on average. Once flowering started the vine caught up and was only about 5 days later than the average year.
Luckily during flowering, we did not see strong winds and had an even berry set in the area. From December on the vine’s growth was accelerated by the warmer growing conditions. We had a few heat peaks in December and in January.
As far as I remember this was one of the longest harvests! We started getting into full swing from around the second week of February and received our last grapes in on the 23rd of March. The quality looks good- we saw little rot and reached proper phenolic ripeness at lower sugar levels leading to fresher wines with slightly lower alcohols.
A TASTING NOTE FROM THE GLASS OF NADIA LANGENEGGER
A delightfully pale colored rosé. Delicate, fresh red berry aromas especially pomegranates combined with a flinty note are prominent on the nose. The palate shows great length and elegance. Traditionally, the wine is served chilled on its own, but also marries well with the combination of spicy, tuna-based sushi and soy sauce.
THE NUMBERS (32 000 bottles produced)
Alc: 13.5 %
RS: 2.4 g/l
TA: 4.2 g/l
pH: 3.6