Wine Lammershoek, The Innocent Red Blend, 2015
The only thing that this wine is innocent of, is being mediocre. The wine is a powerful blend of Syrah, Pinotage, Zinfandel, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Grenache and Chenin Blanc that allows the region's terroir to shine.
Characteristics
Wine Style:
Red - A wild blend of seven different varieties that exhibit complex aromas and clear terroir traits.
Tasting Notes:
A delightfully clear and bright ruby red. On the nose, it presents aromas of dark fruit, spices and hints of cacao. This develops into pleasant notes of pepper, oregano, and cherry. The palate carries soft red berry fruit & bright red plum acidity. Pepper spice on the tail. At first, you will find a soft and rounded mouthfeel with a ripe and lingering tannin structure towards the end.
Gastronomy:
To be enjoyed its own or pairs wells with red meat dishes, meaty fish, spicy food and BBQ.
Vineyards:
Farmed dryland, thus no irrigation. All the vines are old bush vines between 15-50 years old.
Ageing method:
11 months in concrete and wooden barrels.
Winemaking process:
The wines were handled separately in the cellar and the final blend made up from different barrels. A very rough sorting was done to remove any over/underripe grapes or leaves from entering into the fermentation tank. The grapes were fermented in various vessels ranging from open concrete fermenters, wooden foudres and barrels for a period of 2-3 weeks with some post-fermentation extended maceration on the skins before pressing. In some cases, up to 60% whole bunches were used depending on the variety. The grapes not used for whole bunch fermentation were de-stemmed and slightly crushed before going to tank. The wines were aged in a combination of concrete tanks and wooden foudres before careful blending and bottling after the 11 months. No new oak was used.
