Description
If you’re allergic to tannin and acidity in your red wines, then this strapping, beefy, well-structured Carignan is not for you. Firm, spicy and intense, it has notes of incense, tobacco leaf and damson and the density to age further in bottle. 90/100 Tim Atkin MW
The wine shows a dense dark core of crushed blueberry and spice on the nose. These flavours carry forward to a velvety palate filled with black cherry and soft cedar undertones. Food pairing: Carignan is often used for blending, but this single variety can stand its ground against an oven-roasted rack of lamb or seared tuna with a peppercorn crust. Terius Boshoff
General Notes
After reaching tremendous international and local success with Stellenrust, owners Tertius Boshoff and Kobie van der Westhuizen decided to take things back to their roots to create wines without boundaries. The old Bottelary cellar was reinstated and the birthplace of the first artisan wines created by a passion for old vineyards and special sites. The ArtiSons winery allows us to free our spirits and make wines as natural as possible and as true to nature as possible.
In the vineyards
Harvested from a 47-year-old block of dryland Carignan – the Carignan vines were slipped in with imported Shiraz vines – not knowing how to use them, they were planted in a corner to the Shiraz vineyard – long forgotten but slipped in as a villain in the Voor Paardeberg. Now, this villain delivers a great fruit expression of terroir and a true reflection of the excellent conditions in the Voor Paardeberg for this variety.
Vinification
Grapes are picked between 24-25 balling. 32% of it is whole bunch fermented and the rest crushed into open tank for 8 days skin contact with manual punch downs. Soft basket pressing allows gentle extraction of dense dark flavours before 16 months barrel maturation in larger second fill French oak barrels. Minimal intervention allows for a true expression of the grape.
Winemaker: Herman Du Preez
ANALYSIS
Alc: 14.2%
RS: 2.4 g/L
pH: 3.58 T
A 5.3 g/L
