Metzer Cinsault 2018

The maritime breezes which come up from False Bay, and the altitude from the Helderberg itself give the wines from here freshness and balance alongside ripeness. His simple aim is to nurture this wonderful old-vine fruit from vine to bottle with minimal input along the way, allowing the essential characteristics of the fruit and vineyard to shine through. In the Metzer cellar a great emphasis is placed on the minimum handling of fruit, and no mechanical interventions with pumps, filters and reverse osmosis machines never used in the process. Fermentation by indigenous yeasts, alive on the grapes and resident in the cellar, leads to long, stable extraction times. Wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered to preserve the "life-forces" from vineyard to bottle. A traditional basket-press is used for gentle extraction of the reds. The Cinsault is a single-vineyard wine from a dry-land, bushvine parcel situated on the lower foothills of the Helderberg West peak. The block was planted in 1964 on heavily weathered granitic soils and features a healthy sprinkling of Chenin Blanc, erroneously planted to replace dead Cinsault vines. The grapes are de-stemmed into open top fermenters, including 30% whole bunches, and undergo a cold soaking for 3-5 days. The wine ferments naturally (without the addition of commercial yeast) for a period of 14 days during which it is punched down manually once per day. Thereafter it is gently basket pressed and moved by gravity into barrel. The 2018 was raised for 9 months in seasoned French oak barrels. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The wine shows delicate flavours of red cherries, cranberries, peppery spice as well as a hint of lavender. Despite its delicacy, the palate is firm and concentrated with fine tannins. An extremely versatile food wine that compliments everything from shellfish to white meats and on to aged cheeses.