I thought the best wine was Stark-Conde Cabernet Sauvignon.
Then I came home with Jose.
1st Bodega Lurton white 2002 800yen
The competitor of Pangolin. Jose also surprised at the quality and price.
2nd Bichot Gverey-Chambertin 2001
Jose told me he was going to produce Pinot Noir in South Africa near future.
3rd Chateau d'Armailhac 2000
Good vintage. Bordeaux was Bordeaux.
4th Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1980
This was a special stock bottle. Still alive. Very good mature !
The vintage 2002 in South Africa was a difficult year to make a red wine. Jose gave up to produce "Conde Wine 2002". Then he made the first vintage of Strak-Conde as the second wine. I could not believe this was the second wine, because this was really very nice, well concentrated, big fruits, rich, nice balance, elegant. I thought this was rather better than the other expensive bottles before we drank today.
The technical is following,
Varietal: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot
Clone: CS46C, CS163C, CS27A, 10C, 1C,
Rootstock: Richter 110, 99
Fruit source: from own vineyards
Single vineyard : this is from 4 different vineyard blocks, all from our Jonkershoek farm.
Yield: 6-7 tons/hectare
Total production: 7950 bottles
?B at harvest: 25-26?
Alcohol: 14.1%
Total Acid: 6.2
Residual sugar: 1.8
Sugar-free extract: 29.8 g/l
Age of vines: 10-13 years at harvest
Trellis: 5-wire vertical
Irrigation: supplemental drip irrigation
Vineyard elevation: 260-290m
Slope: South East and North West
Details of vinification and oaking:
The grapes were hand-harvested in early March. Must was inoculated with a domestic yeast and an imported French yeast. Grapes were hand-sorted before crushing and fermented in small open-top fermentation vats. Punched-down vigorously every 2-4 hours for the first half of fermentation and every 6-8 hours until dry. At dryness, the wine was basket-pressed and racked to barrel for malo-lactic fermentation and barrel maturation. Only 300l French oak was used, of which about 40% were new. Bottled unfined and unfiltered after 24 months barrel maturation.
2002 was a difficult year for the cooler wards of Stellenbosch with one of the highest summer rainfall averages in history. Downey mildew was a serious problem and resulted in the total loss of crop in some vineyards.
My hat must go off to my viticulturist Pieter Smit who kept on top of the problem; we had very little loss due to mildew. To compensate for the excessive rain, 10% of the juice was bled off before fermentation to concentrate the grape must. On the positive side, we had a very long ripening period which resulted in beautifully ripe tannins.
Any way WE DRANK TOO MUCH TONIGHT.