- Analysis
- Vineyards
- Vinification and Aging
- Tasting Notes
- 2013 Vintage Notes
BLANKbottle Moment of Silence 2013
Wine of Origin
Wellington
Varietals
60% Chenin Blanc, 30% Chardonnay, and 10% Viognier
Analysis
Wine Maker: Pieter H. Walser
Alcohol: 13.5%
Owning a farm limits you to the vineyards on your specific farm. I love traveling and experiencing many different areas. I want to make area specific wines, wines that will be ambassadors for areas. I harvest 55 tons from 47 vineyards; 26 different varietals and growing – anything from Fernao Pirez to Cabernet. In the 2015 harvest, I drove 13 000 killometers in 100 days to pick my grapes.
Vineyard-site selection is where all wine begins, and to me personally, one of my most crucial decisions. The Chardonnay in the blend is still from Twyfeling and the Chenin is from Professor Kukurowitz – a block named after the professor who field-selected, multiplied and planted the vineyard 51 years ago. The third component, Viognier, is from a small block on the foothills of Groenberg.
All these varietals fermented spontaneously in OLD french oak barrels. It was aged a year in barrel on the lees, blended and bottled. It’s NOT your typical wooded wine. You can hardly taste the wood. The wine is fresh! It represents and express the vineyards from Wellington, NOT the barrels from France…
The wine is complex, leesy, and yet subtle. Showing notes of citrus blossom, fresh golden apple, and apricot. Underpinned by acidity with a round and creamy mouthfeel. The oak handling is well integrated and not showy in any way.
The 2013 vintage was without a doubt one of the most challenging yet rewarding vintages of the past few years. Superb winter and spring conditions set the stage, but this was followed by occasional humid conditions in February and March which meant that canopy management before veraison was the key to healthy fruit. The growing season was a good one, with quantity up around 5 to 20 percent, depending on where you were, and good quality thanks to a long and lovely ripening period. Our only challenge was a lot of rain and cold over Easter when we were mid-harvest.