Cabernet Sauvignon - Kleine Zalze Cellar Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

Deep red colour with a classic, multi-layered Cabernet nose, featuring chocolate and strong ripe blackberry fruit. On the palate, there is a solid concentration of liquorice and blackcurrant flavours. This wine is ready to be enjoyed now, but can be matured for a further 5 – 7 years in the bottle.

Viticulture:
The grapes were harvested from selected vineyards on our Groote Zalze and Kleine Zalze farms, boasting Clovelly and granite soils with good water retention. Influenced by the south-western sloping vineyards and a cool micro-climate, the berries ripened firmly before picking at 24ºB. At 80% veraison green bunch dropping followed to ensure that the crop ripened evenly with optimum colouring of the pips.

Vinification:
The grapes were harvested early in the morning, and then hand selected on the sorting table before destalking. One third of the wine was fermented in punched down open epoxy cement tanks. After a three day cold soaking period, the remaining 70% was fermented in closed stainless steel tanks and pumped over every 4 hours. Thereafter, this portion of the wine went through malolactic fermentation in third fill and fourth fill barrels. The wine matured for 12 months in fine grain French oak barrels and racked once before bottling.