Consists of 100%Shiraz , with the grapes coming from the following areas.
• Tulbagh 89%
• Robertson 7%
• Wellington 4%
Shiraz grows like it wants to fly away. And the cautious farmer will mutter that nothing good will come from such a wild thing. But find the soil and climate to balance this effervescent nature And you have the chance of making something beautiful.
The Dark Horse is our touchstone, our mantra, our moving Target, our other name, our dreams reflected. Enjoy!
Vinification
Grapes were hand picked from the 10th of February until the 12th at 25.2 - 26.1ºB. Grapes were stored in our cold room overnight and crushed
after which all small parts of stems were removed by hand on a sorting table. In some lots, 50 % were left as whole berries.
Lots were split & fermented with different yeast strains (Maurivin B & BDX).Cold maceration on the skins for 2 weeks at 6 - 10ºC, with one cold soak punch down per day.Fermentation takes place in the open top fermenters with punch downs every 4 hours, 24 hours of the day, at 25 - 30ºC.Pressing & barrelling down is done without the use of pumps - only gravity flow. Wine was matured for 13 - 14 months in 2/3 new American Oak barrels and the rest older French- & American Oak.Barrels get stirred once a month to increase lees contact, before the first racking (November 2003). Each individual barrel gets tasted a minimum of three times during the maturation period in order to select the premium ones for Foundation Shiraz 2003. Wine was filtered before bottling in September 2004.
Tasting notes
The wine has a dark, rich plummy colour going over to a lively ruby red rim and is an excellent example of a South African Shiraz combined with a touch of Australia (a bit of magic Bruce Jack picked up during his studies over there) complimented by the 70% American Oak that was used.
The nose is a complex combination of white pepper, cigar box, mint and a concentration of dark fruit supported by subtle spicy undertones.
The complexity on the nose flows over to the palet. The wine is big and round on entry with smooth and silky tannins that show well even though the wine is still young. Nice fruit on the back pallet combined with a well-balanced acidity is responsible for a lingering finish and rounds off a perfectly balanced wine.
Analysis
Alc: 14.18, RS: 1.26, VA: 0.57, pH: 3.50, TA: 5.66, fSO2: 46.4, tSO2: 110.4, Micro ID: Clean
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