Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/barrelan/public_html/template/wines2.php on line 116
The Origins of the Name:
The name comes from a mythical Cape legend of a magic forest, translated from the ancient, local dialect as "Bowwood". This small, hidden forest lay deep in a cool kloof on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain - overlooking what is now Kirstenbosch Gardens. Even on a cloudless, windless summer day it was a place of refuge from the heat.
It was from this forest that young men, entering into adulthood, would cut a Bowwood sapling for his bow. Many believed this was the oldest forest on earth. On a black moon night, when the tree sap is pulled back into the roots and the wood is dense and taught, the local Cape Peninsular tribes would congregate at the edge of this forest for a night-long initiation ceremony.
At midnight the young men would venture into the pitch-black forest. They walked in slowly and silently, sensing a path through the blackness, until they found a sapling to cut down. On the edge of the forest the elders sang to the stars, told old stories and invited the ancestors to join them.
When the young men returned they handed over their saplings to the women of the tribes who stripped the bark off them. The old men fashioned them into bows, tapering them equally at each end. Then they attached the reedbuck hide strings which the women had been binding into thin, elastic plats.
Finally, just before daybreak these bows were handed back to the young men. They knew that bows made from the magical forest saplings would only bend back in the hands of an honourable man or woman; otherwise they stayed stiff and brittle like rods of rock. A moment of truth as each young man pulled back the string of his new bow.
And in the right hands and used for the right reasons, like hunting and self defence, the bows always gave wonderfully true flight to an arrow.
The Vineyard:
The wonderful grapes that make "Bowwood Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot" come from the south-facing slopes of Julian and Bridget Johnsen's spectacular farm in the Perdeberg Mountains. The ancient soil (the oldest viticultural soil in the world) is extremely well-drained and devigorating ensuring intensely flavoured, elegant fruit. The unique combination of slope, aspect, soil and careful vineyard management mean we can make a wine that while hugely appealing and drinkable is serious, complex and intriguing.
Tasting Notes:
Smooth, vibrant ruby red rim deepening to a dark, dense red colour. The wine shows fresh red fruit on the nose and nice spicy, warm undertones of subtle, well integrated wood aromas. This follows through to the palate with upfront, well-structured tannins and a mouth filling creamy richness. This is a well-balanced wine with a rich and long lasting after taste
Harvest Details:
All grapes picked between the 18th and 20th of February 2002. The average degrees Balling in tank was 25.2oB. The vintage ripening conditions were near perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The fruit was extremely healthy with wonderfully even ripeness.
Winemaking Technique:
The Cabernet and Merlot are softly de-stemmed and gravity fed into the same open-top, Flagstone fermentor. The grapes are therefore married together from the very beginning - there is no subsequent blending. The must is cold soaked for three weeks, before being warmed up so natural, spontaneous fermentation starts. After 7 days of manual punch-downs the wine is traditionally basket pressed straight to barrel where it undergoes ML fermentation. Thereafter the wine matures in barrel for 22 months.
Awards:
Silver medal - International Fairburn Wine Show:
Gold Medal - International Nova Scotia Wine & Spirits Competition, Canada:
4 **** stars - “Grape” Magazine, SA
4 **** stars - John Platter Wine Guide
Gold Medal - International Veritas Wine Awards
|
|
