Moment of Silence 2022

At tastings I often get the question: "How do you conceptualise new wines?"

Although normally a firm believer in strategic planning, when it comes to new wines, I plan NOT to plan. You can never force a wine, you just need to follow the road you're on. The journey normally starts with a friend, which typically leads to another friend, new areas and vineyards. Ultimately I end up with a wine that expresses the journey more than the actual destination, a combination of these people and their habitat.

The perfect example of such a wine is the Moment of Silence. It's been a journey of epic proportion from the first vintage in 2007 until today - the release of the 2021 vintage. It all started off with a friend, Jan de Villiers, who took me to Wellington to meet a farmer. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on the area at first but by lunchtime that day I had completely changed my view. What made that meeting so significant in hindsight, was that I was unknowingly about to buy grapes from a farm originally owned by my direct family 7 generations ago and our meeting that day took place around the original Hauptfleisch dining room table owned by my family!It was only after 2 vintages of buying these grapes and making Moment of Silence, that my mom discovered this whilst doing a family tree - quite a confirmation don't you think?Moment of Silence 2021 is made up of 5 different vineyards:

Boberg: This vineyard grows on top of the Groenberg mountain in Wellington in decomposed granite. It was a neglected bush vine Chenin blanc vineyard that was recently resurrected and now being converted into an organically farmed parcel.

Hangbal: A super old bush-vine Chenin blanc that grows on the lower slopes on the northern side of the Groenberg. This is the first time I am incorporating this vineyard into the blend. Works really well and I foresee a promising future for this component.

Kleinplasie: The next 20% is made up of a younger, organically farmed, irrigated Grenache Blanc vineyard on the lower slopes of the Groenberg and another Grenache on the northern slopes of the Groenberg. In 2018, we started to experiment with different fermentation styles. Specifically with the Grenache we tried some skin fermented parcels and it turned out really good - the idea is to add some tannin and texture to the final blend.

Taaiboslaagte: And the last 5% of the wine is made up of a conventionally farmed Viognier Vineyard.Fermentation took place spontaneously in various vessels - Concrete egg shaped tanks, Amphore and older French oak. Aged for 8 months on the lees blended and bottled.