Grangehurst, Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot 2014

Description

Grangehurst Winery is a boutique wine cellar on the slopes of the Helderberg Mountain in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The Walker family business began here in 1992 when proprietor Jeremy Walker started purchasing grapes and converted the squash court on the property into a wine cellar.The focus is on the production of handcrafted red wines and a dry rosé, all made using traditional winemaking practices. Their hands-on approach, years of experience and passion for what they do helps to produce wines of the highest quality that can mature for long periods.

Grangehurst is highly regarded for its traditional, “unhurried” winemaking approach, often aging and holding back vintages until they are perfectly ready for consumption.

The Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend has been part of the Grangehurst range since our maiden vintage in 1992. As a young wine, still in barrel, the 1992 vintage was adjudged the SA Champion Wine. The 1993 vintage was Wine Magazine’s first 5-star red wine and the 1995 was a Platter 5- star wine. Other vintages of this wine have also been highly regarded, and Grangehurst Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is a fine quality Bordeaux-style wine with a good track record.

GRAPE VARIETIES
Cabernet Sauvignon (80%) Merlot (20%)

ORIGIN
Selected from prime vineyard areas in Stellenbosch viz. the slopes and foothills of the Helderberg Mountain and the Simonsberg. The southerly summer sea-breezes that blow over the cool waters of False Bay contribute greatly to the quality of the grapes from these vineyards.

FERMENTATION
After destalking and crushing the grapes, the mash was fermented in open tanks for between 8 and 14 days on the skins. The cap of skins was punched down and mixed with the juice 4 to 8 times per day to ensure optimal extraction of colour, tannin and flavours. After completion of the alcoholic fermentation, the free-run wine was drawn off and the skins were gently pressed in basket presses. The press wine was blended with the free-run wine in stainless steel tanks before being transferred to small oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation occurred in tanks and barrels.

CLARIFICATION
This wine was clarified according to the natural settling and racking method, which does not involve the use of any unnatural fining agents, centrifuges or filters. This method of clarifying wine prevents it from being stripped of flavours.

BARREL MATURATION
The various component wines were matured separately in 225 litre French oak barrels for 34 months prior to blending.

BOTTLING
Bottled at Grangehurst using a gentle gravity flow filling system. The wine flowed from the elevated bottling tanks through a cartridge filter to the hand filler and into the bottles. This was the only stage during the entire winemaking process that the wine was filtered.

WINE ANALYSIS
Alcohol: 14.1% by volume (14.0% on the label)
Residual Sugar: 1.8 g/l
Total Acidity: 6.0 g/l
pH: 3.77

TASTING NOTES
Dark ruby colour; complex aromas & flavours of black and red berries, cassis, mocha and violets. A full-bodied barrel matured red wine with smooth, ripe tannins. Recommended drinking up to 20 years from vintage. Enjoy this wine with fine cuisine such as venison carpaccio, oven-roasted vegetable pasta, Moroccan chicken or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Additional information

Enjoy this wine with fine cuisine such as venison carpaccio, oven-roasted vegetable pasta, Moroccan chicken or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.