Mother Rock The Building Blocks Red

THE SEASON LEADING UP TO 2023 VINTAGE
2023 was our official first vintage of then, 4-year-old vines, we had a warmer/drier winter than usual, with most rain falling only late July/August which then led into fair, dryer, spring conditions which then lead to bud burst being almost 3 weeks earlier on the 15th of September.
After not seeing much rain during spring we had big rains over December that was perfect for upcoming set and veraison giving the vines and soils replenishment and extra vegetative strength, to get through those crucial few weeks to set us up for harvest early February.
After what was in our books a very wet December, January and February was dry with lots of southwestern winds helping to keep the grapes healthy and free of mildew.
Being at 650m, plus, altitude and having the Atlantic coast only 35 kilometres away, we have very big diagonal shits in temperatures giving the grapes enough sunlight to fully ripen during the day but also rest in the cool nights, with temperatures that can drop to 10 degrees in midsummer….
The aspect faces south, southwest, looking directly into the cool southwestern winds, with a picture-perfect west coast sunset every evening.
THE WINE MAKING PROCESS
We pick the grapes, by hand, transport it in 20KG lug boxes to the cool room, giving the grapes time to chill over 24 hours, bring temperatures down to 4 degrees Celsius.
Afterwards we would hand sort the grapes, removing all materials other than grapes.
We do about 50% whole cluster fermentation at the bottom of the tank and destem the rest on top. We use some CO2 (dry ice) to protect the juices from oxidation during this process.
It will take around 4 days for the fermentation to start which will start naturally with yeast coming from the vineyards.
Once fermentation has started, we do very little extraction during fermentation as we have the sun in the vineyards doing all that hard work for us by giving us grapes that is perfectly ripe which then don’t need any manipulation during fermentation.
So, one or two pump overs during the 16 days of primary fermentation is significant for us.
After alcoholic fermentation is done, we drain the wine, basket press the skins and that’s it, done with the “winemaking” part.
We then transfer the wine to barrel and wait for the magic to happen…….
WINE DETAILS
GRENACHE NOIR 53% – PINOT NOIR 31% – MOUVERDRE 16%
PH 3.41 – TA 5.9g/l – RS 2.0 g/l – ALC. 13.51% – TSO2 34 mg/l
PRODUCTION – 2100 BOTTLES
Aged in neutral French oak barrels for 22 months, racked with small sulphur addition in September 2024 and bottled on the 18th of September 2024.
NO FINNINGS OR FILTRATION WAS DONE