The inaugural vintage of the Cabernet Sauvignon is a monumental effort given the nominal price tag. There is a lot of wine in this bottle. Stephanie rang a friend to source the fruit located on the awe-inspiring slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain in Stellenbosch. The vineyard was planted nearly 20-years-ago and due to the steep mountain slope is trained on trellising. The soils are a clay-driven granitic mix that provides the power and intensity in the background of the wine.
The grapes were hand-harvested and fully destemmed before being gently crushed. The grapes were fermented in small 1-2 ton lots with most of the ferments being carried out without inoculation. After ten days on the skins the grapes were pressed to tank to settle overnight then racked to older French barriques for aging. In the spring the wine was lightly sulfured and after a total of 12 months aging it was racked to blend and bottled without fining or filtration and just another small sulfur addition.