From a truly special vineyard planted 3km from False Bay it is a relatively ‘cooler’ site in Stellenbosch. Cinsaut at its best creates such lovely fresh, vibrant wine with amazing aromatics. The same vineyard that Bernard Bredell, from Scions of Sinai, uses. 100% destemming means the fruit can come to the fore on the palate.
In the words of Mick & Jeanine Craven:
“From 2017 we were lucky enough to be shown some fruit from a farm we have always wanted to make wine from, named Rustenhof. This great farm in the Faure area has an abundance of lovely Cinsaut, amongst many other varieties. This dryland, bush-vine block, planted in granite and sand, suits our style very well and is a pleasure to work with.
“Uniquely to our usual red winemaking style, we destem our Cinsaut before fermentation. We find that Cinsaut has a lower acidity than Pinot noir and Syrah, so we like to capture the little acidity that it has (whole bunch ferments tend to reduce acidity). Much like our Pinot Gris, the 2022 rendition of the Cinsaut has moved to 100% concrete for fermentation and ageing. We like to capture the fresher, brighter characters of Cinsaut and we find the use of concrete helps us preserve the bright fruit and energy of the wine. After the fermentation on skins is complete we drain and press to the concrete tanks for 6 months of elevage before bottling.”
Ingredients: Grapes, SO2.
Vitals:
100% Cinsaut
W.O Stellenbosch
Vineyard: Rustenhof
Planting Year: 1988 and 1975 Grown by: Pieter Bredell
Soil: Granite, sand.
Alcohol: 12.10 %
pH: 3.59
Total Acidity: 5.5 g/L
