Vineyards

The Shiraz fruit is from our own un irrigated vineyard on the Schapenberg.

Winemaking

Grapes are hand picked and selected at full ripeness. After light crushing, we transfer the mash to open fermenters. Here we leave it pre-soak for around three days, before we add yeast for the onset of alcoholic fermentation. We try to get all (or most)of the colours from the skins in these first days, as the colour pigments are water soluble. With the onset of fermentation we generally lightly punch down the skins twice a day for the first two days, then as the alcohol content and temperature increase, the cap forms, and we punch it down about four times per day. The tannins are alcohol soluble and this is extracted during these punch downs; tannins are very important for binding the colour already released into the wine.

As the fermentation slows down, we normally only lightly punch down, once a day, to not over-extract or extract any harsh components from the grapes. The tank is then closed and kept under inert (CO2) gas for about three weeks on the skins. This has a very positive effect on mouth feel and roundness of the wine. The skins are then lightly pressed before transferring the wine into small casks.

The wine is then put in French oak  and a small portion of American oak for 12 months, before it gets racked, cleaned and bottled. Throughout the whole process our focus is on minimum intervention and preserving the fruit flavours of the wine and trying to create the perfect balance between oak and fruit flavours.
 

Style

A rich, juicy, fruit driven Shiraz with soft, velvety tannins. Full bodied with spicy pepper, violets and pomegranate on the nose with a powerful and well balanced oak finish.

When to drink

It’s drinking beautifully now, but has the structure and finesse to mature well over the next 10 years.

Food match

It will compliment most main meals, but ideal with meat dishes. 

Production

5,000 - 8,000 bottles annually

If you live in The Netherlands you can buy our wines on this site.