Cocoa Hill Rose

Vintage:

2011

Origin:

Stellenbosch

Varieties:

Merlot

Platter 3 Stars (2010)

Veritas Bronze (2010)

"In a time of seafaring and spice, pirates played in Table Bay…
Among them was Long Ben - as fierce as he was tall,
he looted and pillaged and scavenged from all.
Ben fast became known for being up to no good,
and so fled from the seas and gave up his loot.
He planted some vines, as was the way,
and peered out towards the ocean almost every day.
Long Ben would have gazed longingly at the vista of Table Bay
from where our vines grow today, on Cocoa Hill."

With its fine concentration of fruit ranging from strawberries, violet and hints of freshly cut grass and nuances of vanilla and even caramel the palate combines all these flavours with a full and rich mouth feel, leaving one with a fresh aftertaste and lively acidity of this dry Rosé.

Tasting Notes:

Through the winemaking efforts we focus on three facets of this wine: colour, aroma and taste. Of course it has to be the light salmon color of this wine that initially attracts one, however upon further investigation you will experience its fine concentration of fruit ranging from strawberries, violet and hints of freshly cut grass and nuances of vanilla and even caramel. The palate combines all these flavours with a full and rich mouthfeel, leaving one with a fresh aftertaste and lively acidity of this dry Rosé.

Vintage Conditions:

Initially we predicted 2011 to be a very short harvest. It started off slightly later for us and due to some extremely hot spells towards the end of February we anticipated that it would end a lot earlier than usual. This would have made things very difficult in the cellar as one only has so many hours within a day to process the grapes. Fortunately the weather did play along and with some patience it cooled down, even providing us with a few light showers to alleviate some of the heat stress on the later Cabernet Sauvignon varieties. Overall the quality was good and resultant wines balanced with lots of finesse.

Fermentation and Ageing:

This year, due to prevailing weather conditions, resulted in the Merlot being the far superior variety thereby making the 2011 exclusively Merlot. The grapes were harvested, and after destemming and crushing, spent 14 hours in the press before a light pressing. The resultant pink juice then fermented for 12 days at 13.5 degrees fermentation and spent a further 4 months on full lees to provide fullness and body to the wine.

Food Pairing:

With its alluring colour this wine is a good pair with fresh salmon, cold meats, lobster, salads, lighter pastas and even complements tomato based dishes that one usually struggles to find suitable wine matches for. Also great with sushi.

Alcohol:

13.5%

Residual Sugar:

3.3 g/L

Total Acid:

5.7 g/L

Final pH:

3.35

VA:

0.3 g/L

Printable Tasting Notes: