‘Always Present, Often Invisible’

Jolandie has a deep emotional connection to Olifants River, a region about 3.5 hours north of Cape Town, because her grandparents used to farm there. She remembers springtime most fondly, when the wildflowers were in bloom and her mom used to take Jolandie and her two sisters to take portrait photos in the fields with the Maskam Mountain as a backdrop. At the time Jolandie was irritated with her mom – sitting still was not her strong suit – but today she is grateful because one of the original photos was the inspiration for this label art. The Olifants River region is known for producing high yields, and when the old vines can’t keep up anymore, they will be left behind as winegrowers look to the younger, more vigorous vines to produce their cash crop. Thus, these vines are always present, but often invisible. The grapes for this wine come from the Vredendal Vineyard which has an enormous ocean influence, being just 18 miles from the coast. The mist from the cold Atlantic moves over the land at night, resulting in cold nighttime temperatures, crucial for acid retention. As the sun rises, it ‘burns’ off the mist and leaves a salty precipitation on the vines – a unique flavor that is ever present in wines from this region.

The fruit was hand-harvested in the early morning hours and cold-soaked in small picking bins for 24 hours.  The following morning the bunches were whole-bunch pressed to stainless-steel and the juice was allowed to settle naturally overnight without any enzymes.  The juice and fine lees were then transferred to a single, old 500L oak barrel for fermentation and aging. Fermentation kicked off naturally without any additions and two weeks of battonage was employed for textural notes. After 10 months aging, the wines were racked to tank to settle and the wine was bottled two weeks later without fining and just a gentle filtration and small sulfur addition.