The 2007 White Wines

Every harvest I say the same thing about our white wines - wonderful, best ever, stunning fruit -2007 is no exception except that it is exceptionally good. 

 sauvignon blanc 2007
We had our first unexpected heavy rains after picking the first 3 tonnes of sauvignon blanc, then a wait of 10 days until all was dry and the flavours were back. Clearly this year we have some more tropical flavours as a result - balanced beautifully with our earlier picked strong pyrazines - so flavours are complex and full. Alcohols are slightly higher as expected but well countered by the lovely acids from our soils. 
This year we have made 3 different sauvignon blancs – just 100 cases of a very special and different “club select” made in the more New Zealand, high pyrazine style, full of mineral herbaceous buchu character - the grapes off one of our favourite vineyards.

Then our standard, Premium sauvignon blanc – this has our signature steely, Nitida character with riper, more tropical flavours. Woolworths again asked us to make them their increasingly popular Limited Release Sauvignon Blanc - always an available option for our up-country members, this is stylistically similar to our Premium wine and we made  just 2400 cases of 6.

wines of great presence showing full fruit, herbaceous and earth character, litchi’s gooseberries, pears and winter melons, held together with taut acids. 

Semillon 2007
Our semillon lives up to the growing reputation of this wine - lovely early honey and lanolin with (to quote Jacus) “wow dried apricot” nose and beautiful citrus character. Yes - there is that sauvignon -like refreshment still in the wine (we add 5% sauvignon blanc and the areas pyrazines are strong) – and that’s what makes it distinctly ours and definitely not a chardonnay.

alluring soft velvet mouthfeelfrom seville orange, dried apricot, grapefruit and pear compote finished with gentle honeysuckle.
 
 

Again Woolworths asked us to make a special  Limited release Semillon for them. Very similar in character to our own wine, there are jsut 100 cases of 6 of this wine.

The 2007 reds are still in the barrel. The 2007 Pinotage will be blended and bottled soon for release in February/March 2008. The balance will be blended in the middle of 2008 for release around September.
 

  Speciosa 2006 and Coronata 2006
Ever since Bernhard has been a member of the CWG, he seems to have developed a very real passion for specialised blends.  

First there was the “Coronata” (named after a beautiful yellow green protea which grows in abundant bushes in the Western Cape). A blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon, the wine is designed to age into its full potential showing the rich semillon lanolin and pear character in tandem with the honey character of an older sauvignon blanc.

Now he has also made a red variant called “Speciosa”..... named after the protea speciosa which according to my botanist friends is a pretty red protea which grows in isolation on table mountain and is deemed a real find on any table mountain walk.... This began as a wine created in reverence to an absolutely fabulous barrel of cabernet franc(35%), plus a beautiful merlot (45%) and rounded off with vintage cabernet (20%). Not submitted to CWG, but shown to much acclaim at their tasting, this wine shows a true tribute to elegant winemaking at its best and to Nitida’s credo of creating wines that “elegant without being insipid, bold without being aggressive, high quality without being over-wooded - quite simply, delicious to drink.”

These special winemaker selections will not become a regular part of our range, but will only be made when the grapes themselves call for it.

bye bye Khamaileon, hello Leuco

This entry level blend was so named in celebration of the Chameleon’s Montessori school coming to the farm. Obviously because of the name’s similarity to another wine on the market we, at the time, passed it by the owner of that wine who said he was ok with it. Obviously our Khamaileon has built up quite a reputation for itself despite its small volumes because much to our surprise, a flurry of fairly unpleasant legal letters arrived this year to demand that we withdraw the wine immediately. Wierd -  and quite unnecessary when a pleasant phone call would have done the trick. So, when we sell out of the current vintage, we will no longer bottle this wine under the name Khamaileon.

In its place we have created a new “funky, fun an sexy” label called Leuco (short for Leucospermum, the red pin-cushion protea planted all over the farm).

Many customers in the cellar are looking for an everyday drinking red wine that was more affordable than our standard range as an. Leuco Red is made from Nitida fruit in a slightly lighter style, it is meant for early drinking .......this year’s wine is a blend of 40% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc. It is made in the normal Nitida way in open fermenters and aged for 12 months in 3rd and 4th fill French barrels.

"boiled candy", luscious "toffee apple" and "spicy, raspberry fruit sparkles" shows the strong element of fruitines in this wine combined with a lighter heartedness. The soft magic spiciness of the cab franc and mulberry merlot combine beautifully.

Our Leuco White is 100% sauvignon blanc, blended from press juice and juice from the lees filters. (Our elegant standard sauvignon blanc wine is made primarily from free run juice with this “leuco juice” added for mouthfeel and complexity.)

Shows the riper characters of sauvignon blanc - baked pears, with golden delicious apples Hints of jasmine or granadilla add another dimension to a very pleasant everyday sauvignon.

Both wines are available from cellar door and selected restaurants.