MIDNIGHT CALL 2007

This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon 40%, Cab Franc 18%, Merlot 18%, Petit Verdot 12%, Malbec 12%. All the grapes are from Wellington, near Hermon. The wine’s been aged in small French oak barrels for 13 months – 20% new oak. We bottled the wine November 2008.

The Story:

I LOVE WELLINGTON!!!! I think it’s one of the most underrated wine producing areas in South Africa. The grapes are 100% Wellington grapes. We bottled the wine 6 months ago. The wine’s got structure. You can age it for sure. The foundation’s perfectly in place. The Cabernet Sauvignon normally gives structure to a wine. We need this but it also presents us with a challenge. I do not want the Cabernet’s structure to stick out.

Making the wine like a building where the steel structure, the foundation and brickwork’s not covered with plaster. It makes a building harsh and incomplete. This is where the other cultivars comes in. You need the fruit of the Merlot, Cabernet franc and Malbec to cover the harsh structure of the Cabernet. With a little bit of Petit Verdot to round the structure off completely. Now this is where the wine impresses. The fruit covers the solid foundation and structure that the Cabernet Sauvignon gives to the wine. It makes it full, soft with a mouth-feel that is round and lingering. This is a wine you can age. The wine needs air. The more time the wine spends in the glass the better it becomes. Initially it was a bit shy, feminine and delicate. I am halfway into the bottle now and the wine starts to open up. Very impressive.