A.A. BADENHORST Ramnasgras Cinsault 2020

Hermitake or Cinsault has been the work horse of the South African industry but over the last couple of decades its star has waned, in favour of the fancy Shiraz and its likes. This vineyard is occasionally bottled on its own and 20180 was one of these years. It possesses great fruit of the red spectrum, earthiness and some lovely spice. The palate is delicious in its transparency of fruit flavours, fair acid grip and gentle tannins

This vineyard was planted in the mid 1960’s on decomposed granite soils. The vineyard has South East exposition and is 1.6 ha in extent.

The grapes are sorted meticulously in the vineyard and transported in small picking boxes to a refrigerated container where they are left overnight to cool. The whole bunches are fermented in old, seasoned wooden vats and pumped over once daily. When fermentation is almost complete, the grapes are pressed, and the wine is moved to a big foudre for 12 months. This wine was bottled directly off its gross lees.

93P. Tim Atkin (Jg. 2022)