False Bay Vineyards, The Last of the First Schapenberg Pinotage 2023

Striking perfume, morello cherries, hint of undergrowth; the palate reflects Pinot Noir parentage, silky texture wrapped in gentlest of tannins. A Pinotage of refinement and freshness. Drink now and over the next 5-10 years depending on your taste. Match made in Heaven: Duck!

A small and singular parcel of mature, dryland farmed bush vine Pinotage measuring just 1.3 hectares and planted back in 1994. Now the last of its kind to be found on the maritime slopes of the Schapenberg, where the original commercial plantings of Pinotage took place. This rare little block sits just 6km from False Bay on a steep, elevated and cooler slope. Soils are stony and well-drained and therefore low-vigour. However, they are also blessed with a deep red/yellow clay sub-soil enabling good moisture retention, which is essential on the Schapenberg as this hillside has the lowest rainfall in Stellenbosch. Due to these low vigour soils, a lack of irrigation, incessant wind and the eschewal of synthetic fertilisers the berry-size and yield are tiny at just over 0.7 tons/ha or 4.2 hl/ha. Good things really do often come in small packages and the up-side here is healthy grapes with excellent balanced concentration.

The approach is natural and simple, yet also rigorous and labour-intensive. Regeneratively farmed, handpicked and hand sorted by the team at False Bay Vineyards. Fermented whole bunch with wild yeast in a small open top oak fermenter with manual punch downs during fermentation. Left on the skins and stems for 25 days before being pressed off in a basket press and transferred to older barriques for a maturation period of 24 months before bottling without fining and only the lightest of filtrations. Minimal SO2 added with no further additions. Just 580 bottles made.