Grapes were hand harvested from the Home Vineyard old vines Mendoza plantings with a smaller portion of the brighter fruited Mendoza grapes from the neighbouring Beuke Vineyard also making the cut.
The parcels were in excellent condition; clean, ripe grapes from well balanced vines. Handpicked in mid April at around 24.4 brix, 3.15 pH and 9.5 gl TA. The Beuke fruit was picked earlier in March with similar analysis. All fruit was sorted in the vineyard and whole bunch pressed on a gentle four hour cycle. The unsettled juice was run to French oak barriques (30% new) where spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts continued over a long period. The wine went through a complete malolactic fermentation and stayed on stirred lees until racked in February 2007and returned to barrel.It was then blended, gently cold stabilised, and bottled with minimal filtration.
