Kleine Zalze Cab Sauvignon

Notes
This wine is a classically structured Cabernet that showcases its provenance. Upfront herbal notes open up in the glass, to reveal intense dark fruit. These flavours follow on the palate with cassis and black cherries being supported by a subtle herbaceous note. An elegantly structured wine with fine tannins and beautifully integrated oak that lingers almost unendingly on the back palate. A fantastic companion to most meat dishes and will also reward careful cellaring for at least 10 years.

Viticulture
The fruit for this wine was sourced from our own vineyards with a few selected parcels from other Stellenbosch blocks. After four consecutive dry winter seasons, the excellent rainfall in 2019 did manage to offer some relief. The effect of additional water could be seen immediately in the vineyards. We had a particularly good growing season with more vigour, which meant our viticulture team had to pay careful attention to canopy management making sure the fruit stays healthy and to ensure even ripening. The harvest itself started earlier than previous vintages and was also quite compressed with several red varieties, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, ripening earlier than usual. The grapes were healthy at harvest and had an intense concentration of flavours, promising great wines.

Vinification
The various blocks were harvested at optimum ripeness and vinified separately. After careful selection in the vineyard the grapes were hand sorted at the winery to ensure only the best fruit was vinified. After de-stemming, the grapes were fermented in a combination of stainless-steel tanks and traditional open-top fermenters. We used a combination of “punch down” and “pump over” at different stages during fermentation for the best possible extraction and to get balance between flavour and tannin levels. Special care was taken not to over extract the wine and maintain density without compromising elegance. After primary fermentation the grapes were gently pressed and transferred to French oak barrels (40% new, 30% second fill and 30 % third fill) for 19 months before final blending.

VARIETY : Cabernet Sauvignon [ 100% Cabernet Sauvignon ]
WINERY : Kleine Zalze Wines
WINEMAKER : Johan Joubert
WINE OF ORIGIN : Stellenbosch
ANALYSIS : alc : 14.5 % vol  rs : 3.5 g/l  pH : 3.50  ta : 5.9 g/l
type : Red  style : Dry  body : Full   wooded
pack : Bottle  size : 750ml  closure : Cork