Stark-Conde Three Pines Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum 2017

About this wine: This is one of South Africa’s most awarded Cabernets. A five-time Platter 5-star wine, 3-time winner of the Old Mutual Cabernet Trophy in South Africa and a 2-time trophy winner at the prestigious Six-Nations competition in Australia. This wine is based on our “Block 5” of Cabernet Sauvignon, the oldest block on the farm. It has a very finely textured decomposed granite soil with a fairly high percentage of clay. This wine is characterized by its fine tannin structure and its unique floral notes.

Technical notes: This wine is based on a higher elevation vineyard site with a finely textured decomposed granite soil with a clay sub-soil and a gentle Southwest-facing slope. The wines made from this vineyard always seem to have good ripeness coupled with good natural acidity and a unique floral note that sets it apart from our other blocks of cabernet. There are five different clones within the block, but we focus on just three: clone 46 which is well structured, but with less forward fruit; clone 27 which tends to have a firm tannin; and clone 163 which is quite fruit forward. The grapes were hand-harvested in early March. They were picked into small lug boxes and cooled overnight to 14 degrees C., then de-stemmed and carefully hand-sorted, crushed into small open fermentation vats and cold-soaked for 2-3 days until natural fermentation started. The next day they were inoculated with a mix of yeasts, half with a South African strain and the other half
with an imported Bordeaux yeast. About 25% of the wine was fermented with natural yeasts. Vigorous punchdowns were given every 4 hours for the first half of fermentation, then every 6-8 hours thereafter. The wine was basket pressed and racked directly to barrel for malolactic fermentation and subsequent barrel maturation. A mix of coopers was used, all French oak, all 300 liter, about 70% new. The wine was bottled without fining and without filtration after 22 months in barrel.

Winemaker’s notes: The 2017 vintage was a warm and dry growing season resulting in wines that are intensely aromatic with velvety tannins and good concentration of fruit flavors. With this wine we are always looking for a fine balance between Power and Elegance. When young, this wine shows the violet/cassis/black cherry notes typical of this vineyard, coupled with the fine elegant tannins for which the Jonkershoek Valley is known. Total production: 8175 bottles