B Vintners Liberte Pinotage 2017
B Vintners is a joint venture between Bruwer Raats, owner and winemaker of Raats Family Wines and his cousin, Gavin Bruwer Slabbert, who joined Bruwer as winemaker and viticulturist in 2009.
B Vintners focus on creating a small collection of single vineyard, hand-crafted wines; the first being the Muscat d’ Alexandria 2014 from a tiny vineyard in Helderberg. Minimal intervention, with an organic attitude towards the winemaking results in wines that are textural and complex.
The old vineyards are planted exclusively on decomposed granite soils, they are high-lying and in close proximity to the ocean. This combined with the philosophy of picking grapes when they are fresh and ripe, extracting flavours optimally, as well as using good judgement when integrating oak, is extremely important when crafting this special wine.
After fermentation, the wine is aged in French Oak, 25% of which is new oak for 16 months.
Elegance, freshness and finesse are key, still remaining concentrated and ageable. Flavours of fresh cherries, blackcurrant and potpourri reveal itself first, with subtleties of dried herbs and spice lending complexity. The palate follows through with fruit concentration, intricate and dense structure, while hints of savoury and spice give dimensions. The lingering taste of blueberries is a great reminder of the wines complexity.
